Ric Savage is totally not a mad scientist (ricroll) wrote in reduxpitch, @ 2016-11-10 18:53:00 |
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Entry tags: | !thread, character: joseph proudfoot, character: roderick proudfoot |
WHO: Joe & Ric Proudfoot
WHAT: **Spoiler Alert** Ric is a total idiot
WHEN: Afternoon, Thursday, 10 November 2002
WHERE: Joe's House
RATING|STATUS: Complete
Okay, so for the record, Ric was totally not sneaking into his childhood home. He was just… stopping by when he was sure that he wasn't going to be interrupting or bothering anyone else. So if Toby asked if he spoke to anyone Ric could honestly there was nobody to speak to. It may have passed a little into the gray area of telling the truth, but right now Ric felt reasonably comfortable that he could get away with it without causing too many problems.
He headed straight for his room because there was a reason for him to come there that had absolutely nothing to do with the sudden appearance of his sister. No, he wanted to consult the (relatively) small number of books he had left at his father’s home. You never know when a natural disaster would come destroy your books when you weren’t looking, despite the numerous protective charms you might have on them. It was just a smart sense to divide your library. Or maybe that was just Ric.
His childhood bedroom was pretty much how he had left it when he had officially moved into his current flat with Toby, only with less clothing on the floor and leftover cereal bowls scattered on flat surfaces. Snagging his desk chair in case he needed to get to the upper shelves of his bookcase, Ric began to peruse for anything that might have struck his fancy. The only problem was that it was his library so plenty of things struck his fancy.
Surveying the pile of books that had quickly grown on his bed, Ric bit his lip. So this was probably going to be a problem. Some of the books would tolerate shrinking and feather light charms. Others would have negative reactions. He could leave part of them there for be picked up later, but then he might run into someone, thereby defeating the purpose of why he chose to come home at this exact time.
Ric was so busy trying to figure out how best to get his collection back to his flat he did not hear someone else walk down the hallway until it was too late. The noise had him nearly jumping out of his skin.
--
Joe was in his study at the back of the house. Though the wards surrounding the property didn't alert him of someone coming, his security system did. He wasn't a paranoid man, exactly, but he did live in the country. It was important to him that he had a way to keep an eye on who was coming to his door. (Yes, he sometimes used the video cameras to avoid a certain lonely divorcee neighbour, but it was easier than trying to figure out how to let her down gently).
So he knew when Ric let himself in. He watched as his son moved about the house, taking pains to be quiet. He didn't have cameras in the kids' rooms, but he watched the hall feed. When Ric didn't emerge after five minutes, Joe quietly made his way upstairs. He leaned against the doorframe and watched Ric go through his books, getting distracted by a few. That made Joe smile.
After several minutes of Ric not noticing he was there, Joe shifted, purposefully making a sound against the wood of the door. He grinned when his son jumped, but he didn't laugh. "Why are you sneaking around this house like you're some thief in the night?"
--
Ric scowled, though part of him was relieved that it wasn't Sasha and he would be forced to do something potentially embarrassing, like try to apparate and splinch himself in the process. "I'm not sneaking," he protested. "It's not like I'm coming in after curfew and afraid you were going to ground me." Ric couldn't quite remember if he ever had been grounded for that. It was far more likely that he'd been grounded for taking the VCR apart without permission without being able to put it back together again. That had been fun.
Putting the book he was currently holding down, Ric eyed his father. "I didn't expect you to be home."
--
Joe shrugged. "Gave the trainees the day off," he said casually. He didn't actually owe his son an explanation. It was his house. He could be in it if he wanted. He looked at Ric, taking in his scowl and body language, and frowned. "I didn't know you'd be stopping by. Not that I mind. My kids are always welcome. This will always be your home."
He leveled Ric with a look that said, Hint, hint. Use that brain of yours. Crossing his arms, Joe repositioned his shoulder against the doorframe, effectively blocking Ric's escape route. "What are you up to, son?"
--
Ric nodded. He supposed getting the day off was better than just taking them off, but the end of the year was drawing near and he had plenty of days that he still needed to take before they were gone for good. "I was just stopping by for some books. Wanted to brush upon some chemistry."
The fact was that while Ric was quite intelligent, he was also incredibly dumb. He didn't realize that his natural escape route had been blocked until it was too late. Theoretically he could have gone through the window, but he'd tried that once. It didn't work then and it probably wouldn't work now. "Up to? I'm not up to anything. Why would you think I'm up to something?"
--
Joe nodded slowly. "Do I have to warn you not to blow anything up?" He'd given Ric a chemistry set once when he was a kid, and there were still scorch marks in the living room. The house had all kinds of battle scars from his son, but only one had led to Joe declaring to never again buy something for Ric.
Covering a chuckle by clearing his throat, Joe raised his brows at Ric. "It was a general, hey, how's it goin' kinda question until just now. You're acting very guilty there, son. And now I'm curious and would like an actual answer."
--
"They pay me to blow things up now." While that was not strictly true about the Department of Mysteries, he didn't seem to be in any particular trouble when he did. His father didn't need to know the specifics, however. Thank Rowena for the fact that the very nature of his job required him to be vague with the details. "But I'm really just interested in the muggle versions of our alchemy."
Yeah well, Ric had never been particularly good at hiding things from his father without outright lying to the man and very rarely did that without actual reasons. And they had to be good reasons to. Right now he didn't have a very good reason. So he had to settle with skirting the truth and hope that would suffice.
--
"It's more like the muggle version of our potions." Joe knew better than to contradict Ric on these subjects, but he always liked to see if he could set the boy off on some comparison or other. It wasn't to be mean. He just liked knowing that his kid had brains between his ears and could use them somehow.
Tilting his head, Joe watched Ric. He didn't push for an answer, but he didn't leave or give him an out, either.
--
That wasn't exactly true. And while Ric knew that was technically a bait, he couldn't resist rising two it. "Then what do you call fusion? And smelting? It's certainly not physics." He should know, he spent way too much time in physics lectures. "Or even the miracle of fire and combustion?" Totally the magic of chemistry.
Ric met his father's look with one of his own. Staring contests between the two of them weren't all that unusual between the two of them. It's what happened when you had a stubborn and defiant child and a man with an almost endless supply of patience. Of course, patience usually won out over stubbornness and Ric could feel his resolve crumbling. "I was trying to get in and out before I saw you or Sasha."
--
"Smelting is the results of sweating and a sign you need a shower." Joe kept his face completely straight and serious, though he knew the smile he was not allowing to tug at his mouth shone in his eyes. He'd learned a lot about muggle science from his son over the years. He'd even looked some of the stuff up on his own so he could properly encourage him and his thirst for knowledge.
Joe nodded, unsurprised and sagely wise in his knowledge of his child. "Why?" For someone with Ric's intelligence and need to be able to answer why and how in nearly everything, it was usually the first question Joe asked.
--
Ric made a face. As far as dad jokes went that was a pretty terrible one. He was about to go on about the process of fission and how radioactive elements broke down to one another, eventually becoming lead (and how wasn't that alchemy or the turning of one element into another), but that would be a topic that would fall on deaf ears because now his dad knew that Ric was avoiding a problem. It was like the time Ric developed the fear of the dark and didn't sleep for several nights in a row before being discovered. That hadn't ended prettily either.
"Why?" Ric echoed back as he tried to put into words how he felt. He'd been able to rant to Toby easily enough, but he also knew that Toby's loyalties weren't divided. Well, that wasn't exactly right. Toby didn't have to be concerned about Sasha the same way their dad did. "Because I don't want to talk to Sasha and I don't want to put you in the middle."
--
Joe knew why Ric felt that way. It was the same reason Ric was the only one who had stuck within spitting distance of home. He would have to be careful not to say or do anything that would belittle those old fears of being left while explaining how Ric couldn't take it out on his sister.
"I saved her, but I had to wait till she wanted to be saved. When you were all at the age to start dating, I told you how to be safe. Physically and emotionally." Joe hated thinking that he'd messed up somehow. "But there are people who know how to get under other's defenses. Who can take the smartest, most fearless person and break them down slowly. No one can see it. The person might not even see it until something happens to wake them up.
"I don't know the details. Your sister has divulged them, but her being gone as long as she was and not contacting us was not exactly her choice." Joe pushed away from the doorframe and closed the space between him and Ric. He put his hands on his son's shoulders and made the young man look at him. "I don't think she wanted to do any of that, but I don't think she had any other choice."
--
Ric still didn't understand fully. Just because comprehended the mechanics of unhealthy relationships didn't mean he actually understood on a deeper level. Honestly, it was a testament to the people around him that he hadn't ended up in a situation he couldn't get himself out of. Ric nodded anyway, however, because he could see how tired his father looked around the edges. He didn't want to add to that burden.
"I just don't want to cause trouble," Ric tried explaining again. When he wasn't spoiling for a fight he avoided conflict like a plague. It's like when he went months without telling his father that he got a stomach ache every time he ate a banana, only for them to later find out he had a food intolerance. "I should probably go. I only came for the books."
--
Joe nodded and hugged Ric tightly before stepping back. He didn't reblock the door. He wouldn't force them to sit down and talk, not yet. He wanted them to come together on their own. They were adults, and it was important that they worked through everything in their ways so that it actually stuck and wasn't just a bandage.
"Talk to her soon, though, okay? She's hurting. She needs us. I'm not saying don't feel what you feel. Just try to remember it's not easy on her either." He started towards the door then stopped and turned back to his son. "Do you want food before you leave?"
--
That was easier said than done, but Ric nodded anyway. He couldn't say when he'd talk to Sasha, but it would happen eventually. Probably. Or at least if she came to him Ric wouldn't brush her off immediately. That was some kind of progress. He accepted the hug because it was from his dad. He didn't care for many people,but Joe Proudfoot was top among them.
Ric shook his head. "Toby's making something. Thanks though."
--
"If it's not fixed by Christmas, I'm locking the two of you in a room until it is." He looked back at his son. "With wards that make it impossible to apparate or use magic." It wasn't an idle threat. He'd done it before. "Tell Toby I said hi."
Joe left Ric to his own devices. He couldn't force them to do anything, but he knew things would be resolved. He had faith in his family.