revivalproject | when the white winds blow [ota]

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when the white winds blow [ota]

WHO: Sansa Stark
WHERE: around the settlement, hospital, her home
WHAT: THE BABY IS HERE
WHEN: May 6-May 9
WARNINGS: n/a

001. labor

The baby keeps Sansa awake more often than not and today is no exception. She wakes well before dawn and simply starts walking. Walking is the only thing that eases the pain in her back these days and so she makes her way in circuitous loops around and around the livable and workable areas of their settlement. She goes toward the hospital, the agriculture center, back around to where she lives and when she's done it once, she does it again.

The pain gets worse and worse as the day goes on, bad enough that she has to sit for long stretches and just grind her teeth to bear it. She knows her son will be coming soon but she has no idea how soon. She knows her lady mother labored for two days with Rickon, after all, so this might take an age. It's only when she feels that she's relieved herself without trying that she imagines it's time to actually go to see Altair. There's someone near her, thankfully, so she calls out to them.

"Help? I believe I may actually be having my child and I need to get to Altair. Immediately."

002. hospital

Delivering children is a messy, painful experience. Even though she's in good hands with Altair and having Wanda and Tyrion calms her, it's still something she hadn't been prepared for until it had truly started happening. She has an easy labor though, from what she can tell, and when her son comes into the world she thinks everything was worth it. James Kit Lannister comes into the world screaming endlessly and there's no question he's a healthy boy.

Sansa's brow is still damp with sweat and she knows she looks a fright but as soon as the child is clean and swaddled, he's in her arms where she can soothe him and love him. She has some experience with babes, considering she'd been old enough when Rickon had been born to fancy herself a proper little mother, but it's different when it is one's own.

His mouth is full and the wisps of hair on his head are reddish blonde. She has no idea if he'll turn Lannister gold or her own Tully red but he's beautiful all the same. His eyes are dark and Sansa imagines they'll turn blue, as hers are, but there's no telling with a babe this small.

She never wants to let him go.

003. a party

Once she's home and feeling much better, Tyrion plans a party so anyone might come to see her and James and wish them well. It's a small affair, given what little they've found in the way of edible and attractive food, but Sansa is glad for it all the same. To announce it, she announces in a video over the network and the child has a starring role as he fusses in her arms.

I would like to share the arrival of my son, James Lannister, and invite anyone who wishes to come to a small party that Tyrion and I are having. We would love to have you.

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Of course Tony was nearby. They kept similar schedules, enough that by this night he had started to think he could anticipate her route, spotting Sansa carefully making her way into town as he crossed to the library campus, then breathing through her aches as she made her way back toward home and he emerged with more components over his shoulder. He had his bounty tonight, sparse, the selection on the first floor dwindling to useless and not eager to test the upper floors in the dark, and had detoured to head closer to Sansa's home before turning in, sure she should have been ahead of him by now. But she was taking her time on her way up toward the fountain...

He had just looked over his shoulder again, turning on his heel to walk backward and try to squint through the dark, sure he should have seen her by now if something hadn't held her up. There was already an anxious panic starting to tighten around his chest when he heard the call, making him spin and search up ahead wildly. She must have sat down again, he hadn't seen the movement in the dark and had to run by instinct toward the sound. He came skidding to a halt in front of Sansa, throwing up dust from the road and flinging his bag carelessly into the ditch, crouching before he had found his balance and hitting a knee. "Hey!" he greeted, bright and breathless, "Morning! I don't know what we're feeling. What's the mood, mama?"

Edited 2020-05-08 03:46 (UTC)

Tony had slid in toward her in quite a bit of commotion and it distracts her from her pain enough because she's laughing so hard. When she gets control of herself again, she answers Tony's question.

"I do believe my son is coming into the world today," Sansa says, rubbing at her lower back. "Things have actually started to hurt today and while I've had aches and pains, this is different. I've been walking to see if the pain relieves and it hasn't broken yet. Still, my lady mother told me it was good to walk when I was close to my time."

"Yeah, I..." Tony gestured vaguely back the way he had come, both hands jumping excitedly, "heard that part." That wasn't helpful information or movement from Tony, he knew that, but he didn't exactly come running with a tactic at the ready. Sansa was still talkative, though, that had to mean something good, and Tony managed the flash of a grin before looking the other way down the road, toward Sansa's house. That was the opposite way they should have been going, right? "Like, today, now?" he had to confirm, a little hopeful that he wasn't really in that particular dilemma, and her first call had perhaps been a little overdramatic. "Is dad awake? Should I get him? Am I supposed to stay with you?" he walked through out loud, so he could at least share the problem even if there weren't any confident answers.

"I don't think it's happening right now if it makes you feel any better. My lady mother labored two days with my youngest brother. I know the babe will come soon but I haven't had the other signs yet. If you'd like to walk with me back home, though, we could rouse Tyrion and let him know?"

Sansa pauses for a second. "You can't let him think it's an emergency. Tyrion's lady mother died giving birth to him and he's worried about me. He doesn't want to lose me to childbirth. I've been trying to be strong for him so he isn't afraid so we cannot frighten him, all right? We should just tell him it's likely going to be today."

It did make him feel a little better, but Tony wasn't sure he was any less panicked than he was when he heard Sansa call 'immediately'. The circumstances weren't significantly changed, just the timetable. Sansa's confidence in what her body was doing was going to get them all through this, and it was a relief to hear her calm expectations.

And she was going to have to be the calm one, from the sound of it. Tony was only going to feed into Tyrion's pessimism if it was up to him to deliver this news. "Sure, yeah," he started, and offered an arm for Sansa to take as much as she needed to get steady on her feet and get them moving to the house. Carrying her was risky, right? Right. Probably. "I don't think a strange man in his room is going to give that kind of, not an emergency, everything is normal, energy we're going for. Do you have a bag ready? Tell you what, you're in charge of Tyrion, all you have to do is get him on board and enjoy each other and take your time, you just have to tell me what to get and it will be ready for you." 'Get to Altair' had to mean the hospital, so they must have had a plan in place for Tony to help execute.

Sansa lets out a soft huff of a laugh. "Tony, truly, women have been bearing children for centuries. I'll really be all right, I promise you. Where I come from, women often bear their children in the fields or in their own beds. I am quite lucky to have someone such as Altair to help me. I'd have been looking at bearing this son of mine in a much worse condition otherwise."

Sansa squeezes his hand a bit. "I'll calm Tyrion and you can get my things. I've had them packed for two moons now."

That was supposed to be reassuring, but had Tony giving Sansa a sick, pale look at the idea of some kind of desperate field birth, with the ants and the mud. Should they have been going toward the house? The hospital got further with every step. Tony hadn't even been inside the place yet, but he was reasonably confident that he would prefer it to a nest.

"Are you sure everything is alright? I mean--listen, you've been doing a great job so far, this is way above my pay grade, you're the expert and I hope you're getting paid. But do you-- are you sure you should be walking? You know, I can call Billy, he can teleport, it's not as bad as it sounds, honestly. We don't even have to wake Tyrion up, just, bam, ready to go."

"My mother walked for two days with my brother, Tony," Sansa says, trying to reassure him. Reassuring Tony takes her mind off the pain for a moment, at the least, so she has no issue with taking the lead in reassurance.

"I am not getting paid to bear this child, either, but I suspect having a son at the end would be reward enough. It'd be best to go to Tyrion and prepare him, I assure you."

"Two days!" Tony hissed, because Sansa had said it a couple of times now but it still wasn't registering properly. Never mind the rest of the production, waiting for something for that long spiked Tony's anxiety, that was a kind of patience well beyond his grasp. "There better be something to do in that go bag. Do you play chess, do you have that one? You know, I'm hearing that question, it does sound rude, but I honestly don't know what to expect from where everyone is coming from, it's like a test. That baby is going to look like a human baby, right? They don't come out, like, green where you're from, do they? Just trying to be prepared. Not that green is a bad colour. Some of my best friends are green." That might not have worked as well as a joke to Sansa. If Tony were being honest, Bruce wouldn't have appreciated it, either.

“Tony,” Sansa says gently. “I am a woman. I’ve been told my whole life that my purpose is to be a wife and bear heirs for my husband. This is different, naturally, since Tyrion and I weren’t really trying and there’s no need for an heir but I am prepared for this.”

Sansa kisses his cheek lightly. “I can bring my sewing or you can read to me. There’s ways to pass the time while I labor, I assure you, and we will get through this. Before you know it, you will be changing my son’s dirty diaper.”

That tone was enough to tell Tony he was talking too much and obviously panicking, so the kiss was welcome reassurance that Tony responded to with a crooked smile, an apology for when he definitely did it again. The sewing or reading he could handle, maybe for a few hours, but the dirty diapers were a threat. Tony recoiled, just tilting his head away from her, then leaned in again with a conspiratorial whisper, "Are you sure we can't put this off for another, say, week? Listen, this is to much responsibility, I don't know him like that yet, and what has he even done for me? I know he's your kid and this is hard to hear, but someone has to tell you, he's kind of selfish."

Sansa laughs and shakes her head. "Tony, come on. He's a babe, he won't know any better. Besides, we're related aren't we? It means you're an uncle or a cousin at the least. Perhaps so far back that we're not truly related but I can give you an honorary membership in House Stark."

Walking is easier with company, at least, and Sansa does have to stop quite a bit along the way. Still, eventually the house she shares with Tyrion comes into sight and she gives a quick nod to Tony.

"You get my things, I'll handle Tyrion." That said, she calls out for her husband so that he knows it's time to head to Altair and deliver their son.

Tyrion wasn't far - working outside on one of his projects. He came immediately when he was called, pushing his goggles off of his face to give his wife a grin -- and then immediately looked near panicked by the way she was breathing.

"The baby?" He asked, moving towards her as quick as his short legs could carry him. "Oh, we've got to hurry to the hospital then."

It would have been nice to be entirely invisible in that moment so he could slink away without intruding on the announcement, but instead Tony had to carefully extract himself from Sansa and offer sotto voce, like he could make the smallest impression possible, "Hi, hello, great to meet you, I'll just..." He did start skulking toward the house, pointing to announce his intentions so it didn't seem entirely like burglary, everyone was aware that was where Tony was going. He only lingered at the door for a moment to catch Sansa's eye and point meaningfully at Tyrion; see? He said hospital, too. Listen to your husband.

"That is Tony," Sansa says, pointing at him as he goes to get the things she's packed in anticipation of this day. "Tony Stark, actually, so who better to take us to Altair, yes? Anyway, I've labored since the hour of the Wolf, I think. I woke up with it. I do not think it's an emergency quite yet as it's just pain for now but we might as well be safe about it."

Sansa tries to speak as calmly as she can, knowing Tyrion's past regarding childbirth. "Are you ready to go?"

"Right. Tony Stark." Tyrion nodded his head more furiously, his eyes going a little wild as he moved to Sansa's side. "Right. Yes. We are going right now. I am fine. We are good. Tony ... apparently has your bag which is good. Lean on me - I am your dwarf lion cane. Yes. Good. Let's. Go Now."

Congratulations, he is only panicking a little right now. The rest will wait until they actually get Sansa into the hospital proper.

Tony didn't have to hunt around much to find a bag with clothes and blankets that looked like it would be helpful to have with a new baby around, and didn't feel he had the luxury of time to snoop much otherwise. He could hear that panicked rhythm of Tyrion's voice from here in the stillness of the city, which was enough to urge Tony back toward the door, only glancing around at what he could see in his brief pit stop. Oh, the crib was cute, very cute. They were going to do fine, right?

"Okay, here we go!" he encouraged as he came bouncing back out of the house, "Bag. Baby. Dad. Car's loaded. Does anybody need to pee? Last chance, we're not stopping."

"I think we have everything in order. Now, the two of you need to calm down. I'm not having the baby this exact moment," Sansa says, her voice soft and a bit teasing. "Everything hurts, I won't lie to you, but I have borne pain for far less noble reasons. Bringing a child into the world is the best reason for pain, in my opinion."

Much better than Joffrey or Ramsay - this pain had end and a reward.

"Come on, time to get to Altair and see this boy into the world."

"I am Calm. I am so Calm." Tyrion stated again, before he looked over at Tony, "Are we not the picture of calm? I am so calm."

Tyrion then paused. "There's a car? When is there a car?"

Another pause. "Right, pain is okay, we are going to Altair. We have got this because we are so Calm."

He was just going to keep saying that the entire time they walked to the hospital, thank you so much.

"Tony likes to use metaphors," Sansa says, waving it off. "We're going to have to walk and I'm not leaning on you. I don't want to hurt you, Tyrion. I'm perfectly capable of walking just as Tony is perfectly capable of carrying my things. I would, however, like to hold your hand."

Sansa reaches for it, twining her fingers with Tyrion's.

"Try not to be worried. Altair is so very good at what he does. There is no danger, Tyrion, I absolutely swear it."

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when the white winds blow [ota]

labor/probably waiting room shenanigans

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