The soul is healed

[lord_wizard]

Who: Felix, his son Ryuga, and ANYBODY
What: Watching after his child
When: Today
Where: The play room at the resort
Rating: PG for kids

Years ago he might have worried what people would think if they saw him now - the people he once knew in the Mirador certainly would be laughing themselves silly - as he sat at a comically tiny set of table and chairs. Considering everything else that had happened, it was now the least of his concerns. One of them was Ashura, who he'd left in their room to rest after quite a bit of goading, while he took their fussy impossible progeny out to play. He watched with a tired but gentle smile as his son rolled a tiny plastic truck across the floor to his feet.

His son. He could never quite get over that.

Felix rolled the toy back with his foot, but Ryuga simply frowned and tossed it away, evidently unsatisfied with this.

"You don't like that one?"

Ryuga shook his head, obviously pouting.

"Well, what do you want?"

The boy only whined louder, and Felix rubbed at his temple. The boy had been much easier to entertain when he was smaller, and not quite to the age where he could articulate it effectively. But he'd have to think of something soon, before this turned into a tantrum.

Comments

[lord_wizard]

Felix would have of course wanted to tell Mildmay of his own virtues, if it wouldn't have thoroughly embarrassed them both and his brother likely would not have believed it anyway. He was certain he wasn't the only one capable of seeing Mildmay's beauty - something he had to sometimes turn a willful blind eye to - assuming of course his brother allowed anyone else close enough to do so. He's sure Mehitabel would not have enjoyed his company for so long if he was undesirable in that department.

"Well...we have this for now. There is little else here that can be counted on," he said pausing to hush Ryuga, who had started to fuss and squirm again.

[kethedammit]

Ally, meanwhile, has fallen asleep, or is doing an excellent job faking it. Mildmay won't count his blessings. "'Spose so. Can't say I mind too much. Could be the fucking blood everywhere again."

[lord_wizard]

"Luckily that's only every few months," Felix answers with a wry half-smile, clearly joking. The slightly morbidity of that mostly escapes Ryuga, who is twisting around to look at Mildmay as he speaks. Felix has a brief qualm about what language the boy is picking up from his brother, though he supposes it can't be helped, and in the grand scheme of things, this will amount to but an eyeblink in the boy's life.

[kethedammit]

"Oh, good." Ugh. "Any other treats I should know about?" He gets the joke, but from some people's reactions, he's gleaned that this event is a semiregular one. There could be other repeats. He wants to be prepared.

[lord_wizard]

"There are only a few things the castle does more than once. This is one..." he begins, moving to take a seat on the floor instead, being marginally less awkward than one of those chairs, and it left Ryuga a better place to settle himself, given that his arms were rapidly starting to get tired.

"It likes to celebrate certain Earth holidays - if you haven't heard of that world yet you will and in detail. Their new year is winter, in the month they call January..." a slight pause where he again contemplated the oddity of intrinsically being aware of a calendar that was not his, "...the castle makes all the liquid you consume have the same effects as alcohol for the entire day. The next month there is a romantic holiday called St. Valentines day. That one is always different, but it usually involves trying to pair people off in some manner. It's generally a good bet to not eat any sweets you might find around the castle. The last one is Christmas, at the end of the year in December. It always snows and sometimes it will bring you a gift from home. Something you wouldn't be able to wish for, normally. There are other things, but it's different each year."

He dropped his gaze to his child, having not mentioned the one part of Christmas that was consistent, though the method of it changed; the kissing. He couldn't resist the urge to keep that to himself, for reasons he'd rather not dwell on, and tells himself there was no harm in it.

[kethedammit]

Mildmay nods. "I been learning the calendar and how their numbers work and all that shit. Pain in the ass." On his lap, Ally giggles, and Mildmay rolls his eyes.

[lord_wizard]

He laughs softly, mostly at Ally's reaction. "I hope you're teaching her that more than you're teaching her the art of conversation. Luckily, other than the months, everything else seems to resemble the wizards' estimation of time."

[kethedammit]

"I ain't teaching her nothin'," Mildmay says with a snort. He doesn't have anything he'd want to burden a young child with the knowledge of. "And, yeah, I noticed. Lucky you, I guess." Fucking base-ten systems.

[lord_wizard]

"Not on purpose, perhaps, but you'd be surprised at what they pick up from you. Watch yourself," he said with a slightly teasing smirk, imagining exactly how much of a terror Ally might become when exposed even a little to her father's skillset.

[kethedammit]

"Lemme tell you, of all the shit I was doing at her age, swearing weren't nothing to spit at." Mildmay doesn't care if she's a terror; he just wants her to grow to be something other than a murderer. Low expectations, perhaps, but meaningful nonetheless.

[lord_wizard]

"I suppose my answer could be likewise," he answered with a slightly morose sigh, though he had somewhat more ambitious intentions of instilling in Ryuga a decent set of manners.

"Perhaps we should put them somewhere they can rest properly." And give their respective caretakers some time to talk alone.

[kethedammit]

Mildmay, on the other hand, thinks his ambitions are plenty ambitious. He knows how easy it is to slip down a bad road. "Yeah. Ain't there a nursery someplace?"

[lord_wizard]

"I imagine so. One of our rooms in the very least, should suffice," he says, quiet enough to not wake the slumbering children.

Felix stands, carefully, shifting Ryuga onto his shoulder to carry him more easily, and offers a hand to his similarly burdened brother.

[kethedammit]

Mildmay nods. He gives Ally a poke, and she wakes up slowly, rubbing at her eyes. "C'mon, get up." Carrying children is no longer an option for Mildmay. He stands after Ally worms her way out of his lap.