I work for a pharmaceutical company. Chemistry. It’s quite boring. Who: Severus Snape and Deryn When: May 25/26 Where: Park What: Hanging out Rating/Warnings: Low/None? Status: Complete!
Snape was in the park with his daughter, watching her play on the playground set. It was an absolutely beautiful day, and he was enjoying the sunshine. Something that didn’t happen all too often to him. He was very, very pale.
The playground wasn’t actually that busy, surprisingly, for such a beautiful weekend day. He only saw a couple other kids playing near the sandbox where Daisy was digging.
“Do you mind if I sit here?” Suddenly there was a small girl with long blonde hair and a bright smile standing right beside the bench that he was sitting on. “I mean, hello!” And then she sat down, without waiting for permission, eyes turning toward the playground and the children playing there.
Severus sat up a little at the sudden appearance of the young girl. She couldn't possibly be a mother to any of the children in the park, could she? Perhaps a sitter? "Hello," he responded. His voice was not very friendly, but he wasn't mean, either. More neutral, bored. But her sitting down without permission (even though she asked for it) was interesting.
“Hello!” She repeated, glancing at him for a moment to offer a bright, cheerful sort of smile. She was short enough where when she sat far enough back on on the bench, her feet didn’t fully touch the ground. “I think my charge is playing with yours.” He motioned vaguely to two little girls giggling and playing in the sand by the slide.
She was certainly cheerful. Severus wasn’t sure how to respond to that. It was... interesting. Unlike the things he was used to. Perhaps even slightly refreshing. He turned to look where Daisy was playing with a girl slightly older than her, digging in the sand. “I see. How old is your charge?” He asked, curiously. Because that’s what parents and caregivers do on the playground. Talk about the kids.
“Five,” Deryn said, wiggling around on the bench seat until her legs were crossed underneath her. “Her favorite colors are green and red, and she likes dogs. But we left her puppy at home.” Here, sir, have all the information. He giggled a little, and then glanced at him again. “I’m Deryn.”
“She’s very gentle with Daisy,” his daughter, obviously. “She’s two.” He added, nodding. Apparently, parents and caregivers on the playground just sort of talked about that sort of thing. Though, that was a little more information than he was used to from someone he’d just met. “Severus.” He added, nodding his head once. “And that’s my daughter, Daisy.”
She liked his name, it sounded like it would roll off of the tongue nicely. Interesting, but also fun. “That’s Alice. She’s a good girl. I’m just her babysitter. I like it.”
Severus was starting to love his name. He hated the man who gave it to him, but he loved the way it sounded when his wife moaned it, so... it was getting better. “I don’t think anyone is ‘just’ a babysitter,” he offered. The good ones were the ones who took their charges to the park, so if Deryn was good... perhaps he could poach her. “Do you sit for her a lot?”
“Sometimes,” Deryn rather agreed with his assessment. She tried to be a friend to the girl and her parents both. She also just had fun with what she did. Deryn rather delighted in drawing pictures and coloring with Alice. “Her mum’s a lawyer, and that’s a pretty busy job. I just work at the Farmer’s market, so I have plenty of time.” She smiled, wide and bright.
“Oh? I enjoy the Farmer’s Market.” Severus said, quite honestly. He liked to supplement his herb collection with some from the market when he could. He purchased whatever herbs he needed in larger supply or that he couldn’t grow on his own to make his teas and things. “I work for a pharmaceutical company. Chemistry. It’s quite boring.” He added, almost playfully.
“It sounds boring,” But Deryn never really said anything meanly - instead, it came out as cute, like she was just agreeing exactly with what he had to say on the matter. Her eyes never quite strayed from the little girls playing in the sand. They seemed to get on pretty well.
Daisy pretty much worshipped any older kid who paid her attention and didn’t take her toys. She was staring, wide-eyed at the big girl, as if she couldn’t believe her luck that such a big, awesome kid was playing with her.
Severus gave a little chuckle. He was the one who said it was boring first, afterall, he couldn’t get upset when she agreed with him. “Do you do a lot of babysitting in the area?”
“Only for Alice.” Deryn glanced at him, smiling again, rather kindly. “Why? Did you need help?”
“Sometimes.” Severus answered, honestly. “We have a couple of sitters that we call on with some regularity, but I’m always looking to add to our list of names to call should things come up.” He offered, then pulled a business card out of his pocket. “If you’re looking for more hours, you’re welcome to call me.”
“Ooh,” Deryn took the card and fiddled through her purse to find her wallet and stick the card in there. Otherwise she’d lose it. “Do you want my number, too? I think that’d be fair.”
“Sure. So long as you don’t mind a phone call.” Severus would need to do some sort of reference check, obviously. His wife would have to approve of the young woman as well, though that didn’t seem difficult. He couldn’t see anything in Deryn to object about.
You had to be a very cruel person to outwardly dislike the little blonde, and she seemed well aware of that fact. “Oh, no. I never mind a call.” Her eyes were on the children again, watching happily. “I usually get off of work by late afternoon, so I’m mostly free in the evenings.”
“I shall be phoning you soon, then.” Severus said. He leaned back a bit on the bench. “It’s almost Daisy’s nap time, so we’ll have to pull them apart in a few minutes.” Daisy was hitting her ‘terrible two’ phase and wasn’t going to go easily.
“I’ll make it easy on you, then.” Deryn laughed a little, and it was a bit like musical chimes. She stood, winked at him in a ‘I have a secret’ sort of way, and then went off to talk to her charge. Promising ice cream helped just about everything.