Zosime Onasis (morethanchaos) wrote in summerview, @ 2019-03-11 00:54:00 |
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Entry tags: | mckenna jones, narrative, narrative post, player: declan |
McKenna and Edward Jones
12 March
Altantic City
PG
Complete |
Kenna had been looking forward to seeing her father for about two weeks. Not that she did not know he was coming up until then. Papa Jones always came up when she was on break if she could not come down to the Pine Barrens. With Spring Break meaning more work, as she and Timpani have moved into a nice place together, Ken knew she was not going there. And Edward was more than happy to climb into his truck and make his way to the coast. And that was why she genuinely thought her father was the best. It had taken them a long while to get to this point. Looking back, it was hard to really remember that time where she was not daddy’s little girl. But there was an eight-year gap where he was gone. Not for anyone’s fault other than a wandering soul. Eddie had met her mother when he was young. Fresh out of college and new to the coast. He had fallen head over heels for the dryad, and she got pregnant almost right away with McKenna. He loved his daughter. He loved his partner. And so, the 22-year-old gave up everything and stayed with them. They had Another daughter almost right away. While Kenna was attached to her father as a small child, Marsi was very much like their mother. She looked up to the dryad more and was more in touch with her natural abilities. McKenna was the most human out of all the children, even after Kenny came along. But Ed was now 29, almost 30, with three kids. And she still had never learned who he was as a person. Kenna did not know this for a decade, but the choice to leave was not Eddie going on his own as she always thought. It had been a long set of discussions between the parents. Eddie had left for Alaska, and Kenna was devastated. She had abandonment issues for years. She suffered separation anxiety from her mother, too. It was something that left a long, jagged scar in her mind as a child. Even the sunniest of locations saw some rain. When he came back to California, he did not try to buy them back. And it had made McKenna angry that their mother was so quick to accept Eddie’s return. As if nothing had happened. Now, she understood it. She had let the man free to explore himself and more. And he came back to his family willingly. She had cut him free, and he returned. And throughout that time, he had been faithful to her. A fact that Kenna was both disturbed to find out and happy to hear. Partially because she thought it was terribly romantic that the man was faithful to a woman he had not seen in seven years. And partially because she really did not want to imagine her father having sex. Ever. But her mother encouraged her to forgive. And Edward offered her something she wanted more than her father back. A chance to be herself. He would take this child who was still angry with him and gave him attitude so Kenna could have what he had. A chance to be herself. He brought her to Santa Cruz. He drove her around to hang out with what friends she made in school, or to either of the Dryad communities she grew up in. He taught her to drive, how to change tires, do oil changes, balance a checkbook, and even helped her with her taxes the first year. Edward held her the first time she cried after being bullied. He stained his hands bright pink because she wanted to color her hair and there had been a whole in the gloves. And despite herself, Kenna found herself back as daddy’s little girl. Wanting nothing more than to keep this friendship they had formed. He was why she was a student of fine arts. Unlike some parents, Edward never once told her not to be herself. And he encouraged her arts almost blindly. When the world pulled her down, her father picked her back up. And now that she was an adult, standing on her own two feet, she loved seeing how proud he was. That he had to drive to visit her apartment, and soon her house. It made her happy to know she lived up to his expectations. The girl sat outside the café with her hands tucked into her pockets and eyes set on an evergreen bush that was rather chatty. Her pink hair was shoved under a gray knit cap that matched her ombre scarf and mittens. She had in a plastic nose ring and earrings because it was just too cold for cute and metal. Her body was wrapped in a puffy jacket, thick jeans, leg warmers, and tan combat boots with a fringe of faux fur on the top. The bushes chittered about someone approaching, and the girl looked up. A bright smile exploded on Kenna’s face and her eyes glowed slightly in the excitement of who it was. Enough that the green tones of the evergreens around her became more vibrant. Eddie was where she got some of her features—the long face, slight jaw and cheek bones, the longer and sloped nose, and her lips and wide mouth. She did not get his height, however, as he was just shy of six feet tall and still almost a foot taller than his daughter. She was always told she had kind of a hot dad. He had reddish-brown hair, a constantly trimmed five o’clock shadow, intense gray eyes, and a bit of an impish smile. She knew that boded well for her brother, who was growing up to look a lot like him, whereas the girls looks a bit more like their mother. Edward smiled as he extracted his face from the black and gray scarf he had tucked into his woolen peacoat. Kenna took a head out from her pocket and gave a small wiggle of her fingers as a hello. She said bye to her friend the bush and skipped over to her dad. He was already smiling brighter now and arms reaching out to embrace her. She tucked herself up into his chest and squeezed around his middle. “Hi, Dad,” she mumbled into his jacket. “Hey, Ladybug,” he replied with that sing-song accent he had never lost from his Welsh family. “Let’s get inside before you become a Kenna-cicle, eh?” Kenna’s eyes widened to an exaggeration of her normal expression and nodded fiercely. She would have stayed in her car, but the bush had looked lonely. And she explained this to him, arms and hands moving about wildly as she spoke, as the pair crossed the street to the diner. He nodded with a smirk on his face as she went on. He held the door open for her, then the two ladies who exited right after, and followed Kenna in. “How’s Kenny doing with school,” she asked as she spun on her heel to face her dad. He reached out and caught her elbow just as Kenna was about to crash into a booth. She flashed him an apologetic look, but he softened his gaze and sighed. “He’s not you when it comes to classes, let’s say that,” he replied breezily and let go of her arm. When Kenna’s face scrunched in silent confusion, he sighed again. “He’s lazy.” “Got it,” Kenna replied. It could have gone one of two ways. He was lazy or he was a genius and didn’t have to work. “Is that why he still doesn’t have a phone?” “Among other things.” He held up a hand to stop his daughter from asking the obvious question and shook his head. Kenna’s mouth closed and she nodded. Got it. Not something she needed to know. She’ll ask Marsi, They walked to a booth and took a seat. Kenna explained how her classes were going as they waited for their waitress. She told him about the wreaths she had been doing as a winter series in the florist store. About her paintings for Shara. He asked about the professor from the last semester who had hated her digital portfolio and ho that final went. Kenna drooped in her seat and let out a long sigh and shook her head. While a C was not the end of the world, Kenna had never scored so low on an art class before. It had been a huge blow to her confidence. Shara and Sid were literally life savers for that. “Now, you said you have a house you’re moving into?” “Mhm!” “Do I know the roommate?” “Yep!” Kenna nodded and put down her iced tea. “It’s Timpani.” “Timpa-“ “The tall, blonde girl,” she supplied. “Ah,” Edward replied. He grinned at his daughter. “What does it look like.” “A house.” “I’m relieved.” “It has walls.” “A ceiling?” “What can I say, I’m fancy, Dad.” Kenna laughed as she felt a gentle kick land on her shin. Her dad sighed and shook his head before turning to the menu. She giggled and took off her mittens and hat. “It’s a three bedroom. One for me, one for her, and one for our crafting and art.” “She an artist as well?” “She runs an art gallery. Or will be when it opens.” He gave a low, long hum and turned back to the menu. By the time their waitress returned, they had decided on a Turkey Club (“Gosh, dad, you are boring”) and a Marguerite Flatbread (“You got cheesy tomato bread, you can’t talk”) with fries as their side. The waitress smirked at them as she went off to put in their order. Kenna explained she came here a lot, and the staff knew her pretty well by now. Eddie took a bit too long on that next sip of coffee, and Kenna braced herself for what was coming. “You mean like dates,” he asked with a clear false casualness to it. “Dad!” Kenna chirped before burying her face in her hands. She did not need to see his face to know he was laughing at her. “No. No dates. It’s a good place to study and snack.” “Would you tell me if you had gone on one,” Edward asked playfully. “No,” she groaned and took a petulant drink from her straw. She knew she was blushing. Just as she knew he was trying to get his daughter flustered. She had never been a big dater. In high school she was more bullied than pursued. And in college? Well, it was a lot of work to do, and she wanted to focus. She was glad her parents were not the type to hound her about dating and mean it. After all, she was going to live a pretty darn long time. She did not have to worry about having a family by 40 like some would. Their meal came and backhanded compliments to what the food looked like were delivered before they began to eat. Eddie told her about his new shop. It was similar to the one in Santa Cruz that she worked in during high school. It was not as popular as it was out there. Less humans who were obsessed with the mystical side. Spiritualism was older out this way, after all. He was doing fine, though. He taught classes and did a lot of herbal and floral pieces for customers. Kenny was babysitting and Marsi had begun to teach at the community’s preschool. As they were not exactly a normal school, she did not need to have the schooling like an actual teacher would. Kenna asked if Marsi was looking to start college but got a flat look from her father. And that answered that. Her sister was not about to join her in the human world after all. “Do you ever miss it,” she asked with a vaguely violent stab of her French fry into the ketchup. Eddie looked up, a bit startled. “Miss what, Ken,” he asked after he swallowed his bite. “You know, like living in the normal world. Here. Not… in the middle of nowhere with nothing.” She stabbed the ketchup a few more times. “You feel bad that you’d rather be here than back with the family,” Eddie translated. Kenna groaned and flopped back against the creaky cushion of the booth. The girl tossed her head back and slouched a little. “Yeah, I mean. Kind of. Like, I hate that I’m not happy there because I miss everyone. I miss some things about it but…” “You like being out here and able to experience more,” Eddie supplied as her mouth floundered to make noise for all the shapes her lips created. “Does that make me terrible?” “No?” Eddie cocked his head and eyed his daughter carefully. He looked at his sandwich for a moment before putting it down and rested both forearms on the tabletop. “Ken, your mother and I want you to be yourself. Not what you think we want you to be.” “I know, and it makes this worse!” “Worse?” Kenna looked at him and Eddie let out a soft, “aaaah,” in acknowledgement. She felt guilty. Kenna resumed stabbing the ketchup with the French fry before a rather vicious bite and tossing it down. “You miss California,” he commented. “Where you could have both at the same time.” Kenna sighed and nodded. “Look. I won’t lie and say I’d rather have you up here than back home. I miss my buddy. But Ken, you’re doing great. You’d be miserable in the Pine Barrens.” “There are a lot of mosquitos,” Kenna agreed. “And it smells like rot half the year,” he offered. “I’d have to share a room with Marsi,” Kenna popped the second half of the attacked French fry into her mouth. “Kenneth sometimes doesn’t wear deodorant.” Kenna gave a long groan and her face contorted into obvious disgust. Eddie laughed and finally went back to eating his sandwich. She felt better. A bit. She missed her family. She missed having people who understood her better than the vague knowledge of her kind. Someone who she could commune with rather than just connect to. She missed being lost in the woods with others. But she knew her dad was right. She would hate it inland. It was not like California where she was a short drive from everything no matter which direction she wanted to go from campus. She eyed another fry before poking the ketchup and eating it. “I’ll come down Memorial Day Weekend,” Kenna told him. “I’ll put in for it tomorrow.” Eddie didn’t bother hiding the smirk on his face. She felt one crossing her lips as well. “Do you want dessert here, or are we actually going to try that Sweets place on the island you constantly brag about?” Kenna’s head snapped up and her eyes glowed again. She could introduce Shara to her dad! Shara would LOVE her dad! “I think that can be arranged,” Kenna confirmed with a solid nod. “And that new werewolf friend of yours?” “No, you are not meeting Matt. Last thing he needs is you being all weird at him.” “I’m not weird,” Eddie argued after he asked for the check. He thanked the waitress when she brought it to them a moment later. “Dad, you literally make it a point to bring up the most awkward topics when meeting my friends. Hey, no I’ll pay.” “Music is not weird. And no, I got it.” “Dad—but-” “You are a starving artist, mooch, dammit,” Eddie replied as he handed the now confused waitress his card. “Sweets and then we can look at this house you’re moving to?” Kenna pulled her hat on in a fake huff with her eyes rolling heavily. “You get to see the house if I buy dessert,” she countered as she brandished her floppy mitten at him. Eddie smirked and shook his head. “Deal.” |