closed | your lungs flood with the tide

[unmanned]

Who: James Kidd and Jenny Scott
What: Checking in and ~spoilers~ but not really.
When: Riiight before Jumanji plot.
Where: James' room.
Rating: PG



Taking care of a child is not a thing James thought he would ever be responsible for. He's slit so many throats he's lost count, foiled Templar plots, jumped from the highest cliffs on the islands, but taking care of a little girl makes him anxious. He'd only been glad for Edward's sake when the little princess arrived, but come his leaving, the responsibility fell onto his shoulders. How the hell was he to be sure a child who had nothing in this place stayed relatively happy?

Christ. It was pathetic how often he imagined smashing in Edward's already crooked nose.

But in truth, Jenny is a pleasant, well-behaved child. More so than anything James could produce, he imagines. It's easy to fall into a routine over the days, and James finds he likes it. Can't go drown in a bottle when there's a child relying on you, can you?

This morning he's sitting on the edge of the bed, shrugging on his coat.

"You ever end up talking to any of the children here?"

Comments

[toyboat]

Jenny's still half-asleep, clutching the pillow to her face with one arm as the other sprawls over the bed. Whereas she used to be an early enough riser, Edward's absence has made sleep more difficult -- she wakes often through the night, ensuring that James's form is still on the other side of the bed, a lumpy silhouette in the dark.

So of course she has yet to toddle down the hall for Miss Anne to dress her and brush her hair. In fact, Jenny's a little messy ball of tiredness right now, drowsy and yawning as she finally sits up to speak.

"I did the maypole with another girl," she mumbles, rubbing at one eye. "She was a little older than I am, not much."

[unmanned]

"That's good," he replies, reaching for a boot that's half under the bed. With Jenny, at least, he's learned to make conversation instead of just nod or grunt. Words. "Think she'll be a playmate of yours?"

Not to get Jenny out of anyone's hair, but for her own benefit. She needed to spend time with children her age, play with someone who had her enthusiasm and energy.

[toyboat]

"I don't know," Jenny answers, blearily watching him. "She was a little different, from the future and all. And I don't know that she'd like to play very much with someone younger."

She runs her hand through her hair, though it gets caught on a tangle and makes her wince. "Can we go to the town today, James? I'd like to see the shops there."

[unmanned]

"We'll have to get you made up, first," he says, turning to look at her. How comfortable she looks cuddled up in that bed. "You brave enough to let me have a go?"

No need to constantly pester Anne.

[toyboat]

The look she gives him is one of pure uncertainty. Jenny's now had experience with a man attempting the morning routine, and the results were not so good at all.

"Do you know how?"