out and about {open}

[prudence]

Prudence hadn't been out and about since Hazel was born, it had been a difficult birth and she had needed a long time to get her strength back. She still felt weak, but Prudence had needed to get out, enjoy the spring weather before the harsh heat and oppressive humidity of summer came upon them. So she had come to Hogsmeade, her barely month-old daughter in the vintage-style pram, and thankfully asleep. Prudence had known that keeping the baby would mean a lot of work, but she hadn't imagined that she would have such a demanding reason. Hazel often cried and fussed, a lot of the time there was no reason for her to.

The healers had said that she was perfectly healthy, and seemed to be under the impression that Prudence was simply exaggerating the frequency of her daughter's wailing. Regardless of what they said, she felt that she had been given a particularly demanding baby. Hazel was not content to be still, no, she simply had to be held, bounced, swayed and rocked all hours of the night. And it seemed just when she had fallen asleep, if Prudence ceased her rhythmic motion the infant would wake and start screaming all over again. Thankfully, it seemed the movement of the pram had lulled her to sleep.

Prudence dragged a hand down her haggard face, plopping down on a bench, simply too tired to walk any further. As if on cue, Hazel began to stir, so Prudence instinctively began using her foot to push and pull the pram back and forth with her foot, though remained stubbornly seated, truthfully, she was exhausted, and had no idea what had possessed her to even come out here in the first place- she still obviously wasn't quite strong enough for outings. In a sleep deprived state, Prudence didn't even notice there was someone else there until her name was called for the third time. Shaking her head in attempts to quell the stupor, Prudence looked up at...

[nixnight]

Nix had decided to take a day out of her life of teaching James to talk and try to get her son to learn something that hadn't gotten him in trouble, he had recently learned that tugging on things was fun and while fingers were fine to pull on, clothes and hair were not. She sighed as she carried him down through town and she laughed to herself as a few people came over to her to say how much he had grown and how he had her freckles and hair, it was odd and yet nice at the same time really.

She spotted someone else a way away in the square with a pram and looked down at James and then smiled, "wanna go see if you can make a friend?" she asked and he gurgled up at her as she started to walk in that direction. She paused in her steps as she recognised the mother and she tried very hard to control herself but firmly failed, she ran forwards and shifted James before she hugged prudence from the side and laughed at herself. "you never wrote! I was supposed to know about miss Hazel as soon as possible" she said with a friendly chuckle in her voice, she was so happy to see both her friend happy and well and her new baby girl the same

[prudence]

Prudence was relived to see that it was only Nix, nobody that was going to throw her a nasty look or lecture her on her irresponsibility. Though lately she had found she had become quite adept at tuning those things out, frankly, she no longer gave a damn what other people thought about her. Maybe it had something to do with getting only a few hour's sleep each night. She hadn't so much as touched her makeup since Hazel was born. Though that day she had at least dressed in something other than pyjamas in the form of a knee-length blush-coloured dress with a cream lace jacket.

She returned the hug given to her by her friend, it felt good to see her. "Oh I didn't?" said Prudence, exhaustion seeping into her tone, she could have sworn she had, though these days she felt like she was floating through life on autopilot. The days and nights blurred together in a mass of incoherent movement. "I'm sorry," Prudence added, finding a smile in her. If there was a good reason about Hazel being born it had to be that she made her mother far too exhausted to be depressed.

[nixnight]

Nix smiled at prudences words and she almost burst out laughing as James tugged on the handle of the buggy and he seemed to try to look inside, "well if you did then it didn't get to me quick enough" she said with a wide smile before she leaned out of her friendly hug. She walked round towards the front of the buggy and she kneeled down and then sat James on her lap and pointed to baby Hazel, "this is hazel James, she's a friend of ours. Say hi" she said and James lifted a hand and waved and nix beamed at him, "she's beautiful, she seems smart just from her eyes" nix said as she looked up to her friend before she stood up and then James gurgled again at her. "you can't play with her, she's too little and she can't deal with your big boyness" she said and James seemed to frown at her and nix gave a smaller smile, "do you wanna get a drink?" nix said turning her gaze back to prudence.

"you look a little run down, want some coffee or something?" nix asked as she turned James so he was resting on her hip and she looked up and down the street, she herself would be happy with a sit down and she knew a lot of people in the town so many of them were happy with James being around and maybe even having Hazel and James around.

[prudence]

Prudence continually pushed the pram back and forth, thankfully this movement was enough to keep Hazel asleep. She wasn't sure how her daughter made do with the little sleep that she got, she certainly knew that she wasn't getting anywhere near enough. Prudence had begun falling asleep in the middle of the day out of sheer exhaustion, only to be woken less than five minutes later by her demanding daughter. Prudence could only hope that as Hazel got older this problem would go away, or at least lower in frequency. She smiled when Nix said that her daughter looked smart, and then proceeded to introduce her to her own son.

"I'd love to," said Prudence, glad to have companionship for the afternoon, someone to keep her awake and would understand the hardships of having an infant to care for. Coffee? That sounded perhaps like the best thing ever invented, although she normally was more of a tea drinker. She supposed some more hardcore caffeine might be in order to make her feel like a human again. "Coffee sounds fantastic," said Prudence, as long as said coffee was sweet and sugary, she detested the bitterness of it when it was plain black.

[nixnight]

Nix smiled and nodded to her friend and then nodded down the street to a small and yet well known coffee shop and she waved her hand ,"we'll be going that way, I'll step back so you have some room to turn round" she said before she stepped back a little bit so she was well out of the way of the buggy. She herself had always carried James close to her in a front-strap or on her arms which she knew meant difficulties some times but she always like the idea of him closer to her than in a buggy, she guessed that was down to the feeling alone and away from her own parents so she wanted to be and feel as close as she could to her own baby.

She started to walk very slowly up towards the shop before she noticed prudence's eyes, they were dark and deep and she wondered if it was down to the lose of sleep. Nix herself was a night sort of person and she tended to doze during the day so she had never had a huge issue with James waking up in the night, of course it was hard a first to be woken from dozing but she had gotten used to it and found coffee and sleeping when he did was the way to fix it. Not to mention she had always used a firm routine, she knew one in place helped a child sleep better and so James had a walk and then a bath and then was tucked in and it made him sleep better and for longer which helped her out massively. What with exams and homework and such like.

[prudence]

"All right," said Prudence, inhaling deeply as if she were about to undertake a massive, energy-consuming task. Though it did seem to her like an awful lot of work to walk any further than she already had. She knew this was going to be her last outing for a while, she had seriously overestimated the stamina that she had, and it would likely take a while for her to regain it. Prudence mentally reminded herself that it wasn't going to be far- Hogsmeade was a small little town, and essentially all the shops were in one's line of vision if they were standing in the main square.

She cautiously turned her buggy around as not to wake sleeping Hazel, it seemed that everything had to be done so delicately around her daughter when she was asleep- the second something went just a little wrong she would be awake and screaming. Prudence would rather not have to deal with that in public, especially after how often she did it during the night. "How have you been?" Prudence asked tiredly, thinking that she could at least maintain conversation with her friend. It felt like so long ago since she had last seen her in February before she left school.

[nixnight]

Nix walked slowly but still soon saw the shop in front of her and so she turned back to see prudence walking along slowly and gently behind her, she smiled at the sleeping hazel and took It to mean that she was still at the wonderful stage of screaming and waking way too easily and so she slowed up and waited until her friend was beside her. They only had to take a few steps to be inside any way so she didn’t mind very much, “I’ve been good, James is working on words and I'm starting to understand his little odd noises. I have the words for hug and food and nappy workers out and the other words I'm beginning to be able to get. But he’s doing very well on the crawling and talking front, I haven’t gotten around to work on getting him to walk because he’s so darn fast down on all fours and I don’t need him wandering off somewhere” she said before she smiled to herself. She had found James had escaped her room in the Gryffindor tower a few times and he even had a second cot in the common room where people could place him if they found him wandering.

Nix paused beside the shop and held the door open so that prudence and baby hazel could go in before her and she looked down to see James reaching from the buggy again, “Jamie you have to leave it, she’s sleeping and so needs to stay sleeping” she said and James frowned again before turning his gaze to nix’s hair and grabbing at it gently and tugging lightly which made nix attempt a serious face. She failed very well at it and laughed at her son getting his own back on her for not letting him play with his new friend but she still made sure to tug her hair from his grasp

[prudence]

Prudence gazed down at Hazel, still terrified that her baby was going to wake up at any moment. She ran a hand through her hair, making and effort to keep up with Nix although her legs really didn't want to cooperate with her. She smiled and nodded along as Nix spoke of James' progress, to her it seemed her friend's son was developing really fast. Hadn't he only been born in January? Though she was happy for Nix, it seemed the mothering thing was getting easier on her- and with the luck she seemed to be having her son was probably sleeping through the night, too.

"Oh, thanks," said Prudence, smiling when Nix held the door for her. Many a time she had struggled with a door and the pram on her own, she didn't go out all that often, she remembered once going to the grocery store maybe a week or so ago, in a sleep-deprived stupor she had picked up a jar of peanut butter in spite of her allergy to peanuts. It still sat unopened in the cupboard, as her father was allergic too. "Please stay asleep," Prudence whispered as she pulled the pram up to a table that would accomodate it.

[nixnight]

nix smiled as prudence and the parm slipped through the door and she stepped through slowly and then waved to the woman behind the counter who's face shone as she spotted james, nix walked over to her freind and had just enough time to sit down before the woman was over beside her with a baby chair for james and a litttle pad of paper. "nice to see you again mary" nix said as she dropped james in to his chair and then she turned to see mary already playing with james hair, "nice to see you too nix, and or course master night" she said before the pair laughed and then nix nodded to prudence. "you order first, i always have a hot cocolate and then a little cup of basic milky coffee and some cocolate cake and mary knows that so you go" nix said as she dipped a hand in to the little bag she carried and took out a pot of baby food and a bottle for james

[prudence]

Prudence smiled as the woman recognized Nix by name, it must be nice to go to the same place often enough to the point where the staff knew you. She generally didn't have that, as she lived fairly far out in the countryside, there weren't many places nearby that she could frequent. Prudence knew their closest neighbours operated a bed and breakfast, though they were several miles up the road. She did like the privacy that her home offered her, though at times it did get lonely, and it was often a hassle to get to places because of the isolated location. "I'll take a, um, vanilla latte," said Prudence in her customary small voice, "extra sweet, please. And, um, whichever dessert you grab first that doesn't have peanuts."

[nixnight]

Nix smiled at her friend and Mary nodded her blonde curly head and then looked at nix, "ill say two on the chocolate cake then" she said with a grin and nix laughed and nodded as she turned and walked away. "Mary spotted tain in town with James on my birthday and adored him and now she likes to try and get in on the babysitting timetable" nix said as Mary left and she laughed again as a low whimper came from James and she turned to him and poke his nose, "im getting on it grumpy" she said as she took the bottle and then slid her hand inside her cloak. She took out her wand and flicked it at the bottle and a little flash of red light later, she dipped her wand down and put it on the table and then wrapped her hand around the bottle. nice and warm. She smiled and nodded to herself before holding the bottle for James who moved to hold it making nix smile again, he was learning so fast

[prudence]

Prudence delicately lowered the shade on her pram so she could more easily see Hazel, who was quite thankfully still asleep. She would need to eat soon, though she wouldn't be concerned so long as her daughter had her next meal within the hour. For now she would let sleeping babies lie, and she would enjoy her coffee and her cake, as well as the company of her friend. She smiled as Nix mentioned that Mary was trying very hard to be a babysitter for James. She wished that she had someone like that, her father had never once offered to watch Hazel, even for an afternoon, and she couldn't impose like that on Jonathon, even if she knew he would take a day off work for her in a heartbeat. "You look like you've got everything together," sighed Prudence. Truthfully, she was envious, she still didn't feel that she exactly knew what she was doing.

[nixnight]

Nix smiled as she fed James and then she heard prudence speak and turned to look at her ,"I never saw it coming, but I guess I was set up to be a good mother after the abusive childhood and longing to have a family. It's a skill I never thought I'd have" she said honestly before her head dropped a bit as thoughts of her childhood came rushing back and then she remembered her only memory of her parents. Her father was trying to teach her to walk towards him and she turned and walked perfectly towards her mother and he seemed all upset before nix managed to grab his long hair and make him grin at her, it was a small memory but it was all she had that was clear and she could remember them by. "what about you? Your dad helping out with her? Or you managing alone?" nix asked with a smile as she knew not to touch the subject of hazels father, the baby really was beautiful and she knew that had to all come from her mother as she knew how the child had been made. She knew her abuse had been bad but it didn't compare at all to what prudence had been through in the last year.

[prudence]

Prudence nodded, her throat tightening a bit. Did she really have a right to feel sorry for herself after all that Nix had gone through? Sure, her mother had died when she was seven, prompting her father to be downright overbearing on her, though she had always been taken care of. Fed, had shelter, was loved. Even now she knew that her father did love her, in spite of how distant he was. Though all the same it was hard, each night as she cared for a screaming baby her mind was transported back to what had made that baby. How she hadn't had a choice, how helpless she had been. Prudence was just thankful that Hazel hadn't inherited the eyes of any of her assailants, nor were they her own brown ones. Hazel had her grandmothers eyes, and she saw it as more of a blessing than anything else to see her mother's eyes when she looked at her daughter. "It's pretty much just me," sighed Prudence, "he buys the things I need, but other than that he's just so... distant. I think he's still upset with me for leaving school."