terribly sorry, officer (baelfiery) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-03-01 21:19:00 |
|
|||
Tink hadn’t actually seen Neal since he was being kept So now she was working on Tink’s Garage, packing up all of the stuff in her old apartment (she’d given notice to vacate) and living in her new house. Four bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, and a huge yard filled with fruit trees. It was going to be a lot of work. It was nice to get away from the work for a bit. She came a few minutes early to the pier to meet up with Neal and Daisy, wings folded carefully against her back as she waited for them to show up. Neal’s head was a sizzling, electrical hot wire mishap of a mess - but he was getting better. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be ‘over’ what happened to him, wasn’t sure he’d ever forget the way it felt to literally die. Those few moments of clarity and just a brief bout of peace before it ended. Then he was brought back, and he realized that he still had a hell of a life left ahead of him. Maybe he was dead in another world, but he didn’t have to be here. Everything still hurt though, in his head and within the confines of his heart, but he wasn’t alone and he’d be alright. He’d be alright. That was what he told himself, every day. Things with Tink hadn’t ended sourly. He still wanted to be her friend, and he wanted to know what was going on in her life. It was that type of caring - besides, he knew she’d been dealt some blows lately and he was glad to hear things were on the up and up for her. First, he’d stopped to pick up Daisy, the eager beaver she was, and this particular pier also had a playground so in case she got bored with slimy things they could find something else to do. Another bonus? It wasn’t littered with fish guts. A clean pier was a happy pier. He carried her on his shoulders, a piggyback ride, and had the tackle box with him. Tink would handle the fishing rod - she said she’d rigged up something new, and he was anxious to see it. “Hey,” he called, smiling crookedly when he spotted her. “Pretty excited about this, not gonna lie.” The familiar sparkle and shimmer seemed to be healthy too; that was a relief. “Your wings look good.” Tink didn’t have any other exes. She didn’t have anyone else in her life the way Neal was there. She would always care about him, feel more for him than she probably should, but what they had was over. This was their new equilibrium, as it were. She stood up a little straighter when Neal brought Daisy over with the girl on his shoulders. “Tink!” Daisy cried out, pointing, as if Neal hadn’t seen her. She banged her hand into his forehead and pointed again. “It’s Tink!” “Me, too.” Tink grinned much more brightly as they came closer. “Thanks. Yeah, Peri’s got her wings here, so… They got healed. Hi, Daisy,” Tink said, lifting a hand for a high-five. Daisy was more than willing to give her one. “It’s Tink!” Neal’s enthusiasm matched Daisy’s, even as she hit him in the face with her tiny little hand. It made him laugh, then he reached up and swung her around and down after she’d high-fived her fairy friend. “Yeah, you told me about Peri, that’s awesome news. She come around to the whole sister thing?” They seemed to be getting along, if Peri had helped heal Tink’s broken wing. Crazy to find out that your sister in your dreams was your actual sister in real life too, right? Only in the OC. Well, she could catch him up on what else was going on after they got mini-Snape set up with her fish-catching gear. “Okay, let’s see the gizmo,” Neal encouraged. “You can pick the best spot for snagging some big ones, Daisy-loo.” He’d default to her pier ‘expertise.’ There were some other people out enjoying the weather and their own spots to keep warm while they fished, and it was a pleasant morning. “She’s doing really well, considering she just found out her mom’s not biologically her mom.” Tink said, bending down to pick up her tackle box and the long case holding the fishing rod. It was a marvel she even knew where to find them in all the boxes. They turned to follow Daisy as the dark-haired ball of energy went thundering up the pier. “Here!” Daisy called out. She moved over to the railing and looked down at the water. Then she bit her lip, frowning, and shook her head. “No, no, that’s all wrong.” She turned to run to the other side. Tink opened the case with a flip of a latch, and held it out so Neal could remove the fishing rod. It had a very ‘thrown together’ feel, but was probably more powerful than any fishing rod that had ever come across this pier. “I hope it’s not overkill.” Tink said, sheepishly. Man, Daisy was giving them a workout running all up and down the pier! When she finally picked a spot, Neal jokingly wiped his brow off and then focused his attention what Tink had. It was the fishing rod to end all fishing rods. A chorus of angels singing, as the clouds parted. He whistled, impressed with such a rig. “No, it’s great,” he assured Tink, carefully removing the specially-designed awesomeness - which would be perfect for Daisy’s little hands. As long as she had some adult supervision. “You always come up with the best sh...stuff.” Had to watch the language in front of the tyke, after all. Papa Snape would not want his little girl coming back learning new words from Uncle Neal. Playfully, he wiggled the bait in front of her first to make her do the girly-squeal and then got situated with actually putting it onto the rod. This was the grossest part. “You got a new house?” he asked Tink, looking up. “Thinking about having a party to celebrate?” Daisy definitely performed. There was the girly-squeal, a high-pitched peal of laughter, then she was standing next to the pier, reaching with grabby hands at the fishing rod. (Once the worm was on the hook, and she didn’t have to touch it, of course.) “Yeah,” Tink said, watching Daisy as she held onto the fishing rod, making a couple of mental notes about things she could adjust. She turned her attention to Neal for a moment. “...the Old Man left me everything when he died, and… I dunno. I was thinking about renting it out, but I’m not cut out to be a landlord. And someone needs to remember him. He wasn’t the nicest guy in the world, but he gave me a chance.” “He left you his house too?” Damn, that old man really had taken a shine to Tink. Not that Neal blamed him - she was very likeable. And bubbly. “Guess he wasn’t so crotchety and grumpy after all. That’s awesome though. You can fix it up and give it your own touches, but keep some reminders of him too.” It probably needed to be cleaned and refurbished, at the very least. Old Man style and Tink’s style were vastly different things, Neal assumed. “I could help, if you wanted? Regina does interior design and I still work for her. So if you needed stuff done,” he offered, hand on top of Daisy’s head, and when she was ready he hoisted her up on the railing so she could see fully over and drop the line in. But he kept a firm grip on her. Didn’t want her sploshing into the water. “Alright, let ‘er go, Daisy.” "He was pretty crotchety and grumpy, but he..." she went a little pink, "I think he had a thing for me. I don't know. Maybe I didn’t let him push me away like he did everyone else. He had no surviving family, no church affiliation, no business partners... just a business that struggled to survive and a house with no mortgage... his wife and son both died, so he had life insurance money for both of them." Tink shrugged her shoulders. "Looking back on it, it seems like... lonely. You know? He had a lonely life. "You think?" Tink asked, turning to him. "I mean... I don't know what I want as far as like... interior design. I'm still trying to get my own shi--zzle--" she tried to hide the curse by using a different word. Daisy didn't seem to notice, "--together. He left me a four bedroom two and a half bathroom house. Going from my one bedroom apartment to the house is gonna be... insane." Daisy was very focused on this fishing thing. When Neal hoisted her up, she leaned as far as she could without falling, and dropped the line. She remembered a lot from the last time, and she and Neal had gone over instructions again this time. She wanted to catch a "really really really big fish" today. “Well, he hired you on. You were probably his best mechanic. It’d be bad business sense to push you away. And you probably helped him feel like he was looked after too. And we all need that sometimes,” Neal grinned. As cranky as the old man was also, he probably wanted to eat. Gotta pay the bills and all. No way would he let Tink go, that’d just be stupid. But he could understand, probably better than most, reasons for distance - he was guilty of it, however in many cases it was the mark of those who didn’t think they were worth a damn. Maybe had even been raised to believe it; that type of conditioning was difficult to break. Not everyone understood that, even himself sometimes, and he knew it didn’t make sense to most. He’d tried so damn hard to distance himself when his life went topsy turvy, thinking he’d die and maybe because of his dream actions he deserved to die alone - atoning for the ‘family legacy’ of cowardice - but luckily he had a few people in his life who straight up told him that was bullshit. Four bedrooms when you were used to one was definitely an upgrade. Neal was really happy for Tink though; she was entering a whole new turning point in her life and it seemed to be comprised of good things. “Yeah, I mean, I don’t think you have to know what you want right off the bat. She can help you find a ‘look,’ I guess, that really suits you. Whenever you’re ready,” he said, then laughed when Daisy said she wanted to catch a ‘really big fish.’ “Are you gonna eat it all yourself, Daiz? Or share with your Papa?” Daisy crinkled her nose up a bit. “I don’t want to eat it.” That would be gross, right? Slimey and yucky. Tink laughed. “You don’t have to eat it. You can throw it back, you know.” She said, and reached over to ruffle Daisy’s hair. “How’s the pole working?” “Good. It’s good. But it hasn’t caught any fish yet,” Daisy said, sadly. “I’ll let you know when I’m ready for some interior design help. I mean, any day you have free I’d love the help cleaning out the house. I don’t think I want to keep any of his personal stuff. Books, papers, clothes, knick-knacks… but some of the furniture is probably useful? The lawyer said they could put whatever I don’t want into an estate sale.” Tink sighed and leaned against the railing. Poor Daisy! Turn that pout upsidedown. “You have to keep at it. Just think about how much you want the fish to come to you,” Neal instructed, yeah, see, it was like wishing upon a shooting star. Or something. He leaned against the railing too - sort of had Daisy sandwiched between him and the barrier, so she could have the best vantage point, and said, “Mm, yeah, gotta clean out all the crap first.” It was probably kind of a task - or setting up to be one. Didn’t old people generally hoard stuff? Oy. “But I can definitely give you a hand. Some of the furniture you’d probably want to keep, or even refurbish. Don’t think you’d want his clothes. Can’t see you dressing like an old man,” he quipped. Oh, wait, what was that? A bite on the line? Pull, Daisy, pull! Hopefully it wasn’t a boot. “Think you caught a big one,” he informed her. “I did find some awesome suspenders--” but that thought was cut off when Daisy gave a squeal and started to flap one arm frantically, the other barely holding onto the rod. “Aaah! NealNealNealNeal!!” She cried out, smacking his shoulder with her free hand. Tink reached over to hold onto part of the rod, too--just to make sure it didn’t go flying over the side of the pier. She broke into a laugh. “You did it, Daisy-kins! Look! You’re catching a fish! Hold on tight!” Daisy’s smacks were akin to little pings, pebbles against a brick wall, and her excitement made Neal laugh too. She was like a whirlybird helicopter - good thing he had a pretty steady grip on her. “Don’t let it go, just keep pulling on it,” he encouraged her, and put his hand over hers to help her reel in the ‘big one.’ And shit on a stick, it really was huge. Jesus, what the - “Looks like a mackerel,” he told Tink, as they reeled it in. “A mutant one.” It was literally about as big as Daisy. How had she even caught that thing?? This beast from the depths? Probably a combo of the awesomeness of Tink’s rod (that sounded bad) and the bait and maybe...some sheer luck? Well, crap. “Want your picture taken with it before we drop it back? Or do you wanna keep it?” "Pull pull pull!" Daisy repeated, as if the mantra would somehow give her strength to pull the thing out of the water. It was BIG! Possibly the biggest fish that anyone had ever caught. At least, according to Daisy's four-year-old point of view. "AAAAH!" She cried out when they pulled the fish up and in. "Holy shit," Tink said, then clapped a hand over her mouth. "I mean," she spoke through her fingers, "That's amazing. Jeez, how... what...? I guess I made a strong rod." She grinned brightly. "Eee, no! I don't want to touch it!" Daisy cried out. "We should definitely take a picture, Daize," Tink said, maneuvering the dangling fish around a bit. "So your Daddy can see." "I want Daddy to see," Daisy said. "Take my picture! Take my picture, Neal!" She posed next to the fish, wearing one of the biggest smiles in the universe. Yeah, Papa Snape would definitely be proud of his little girl for catching this monster. “Okay, smile big - “ Not that Neal needed to worry about it as he rummaged for his phone, because Daisy’s toothy grin could melt polar ice caps somewhere. Then he snapped a photo with Daisy next to the fish and Tink making sure it didn’t flop and hit anyone in the face. Immediately, he sent it to Sev so he could see what they were all up to out here. Damn, that mackerel would be tasty with some spices, maybe a little oil...but no, they were going to throw it back. Probably the best thing. “I dunno how we’ll top that, Daiz,” he said, chuckling. “Maybe we should break for lunch?” There were a few restaurants and sidewalk cafes along the pier; they could find something kid-friendly. Tink managed to pull out her phone and snap a couple photos, too. And no one was smacked in the face by fish tail. “Lunch!” Daisy said, and without stopping to throw the fish back, she climbed down and turned to run down the pier. “I wanna go to the park!” Of course, she didn’t make it far before she turned back around to face Neal and Tink. “Are you coming??” She called out, grinning her happy grin. Her dark hair whipped around her head by the sea breeze. Tink chuckled softly, “she’s Miss Independant, isn’t she? Go on, take her to the park. I’ll chuck this guy back and clean up.” Neal had to laugh too. “Slow down, speedy, we’re old,” he told the zooming Daisy, although they weren’t that old. Maybe compared to a four-year-old. “But yeah, we’re coming.” He tried to help clean up as best he could, not wanting Tink to do it all, and he shut the tackle box and grabbed it by the handle so it’d be one less thing for her to carry. “Okay, we’ll get some sandwiches and whatever sweets she can con me into buying too, and meet you at the park,” he said, then he had to run up to Daisy before she took off in a cloud of dust. “Alriiiiiight, let’s go!” Swiftly, he scooped her up so he could carry her. Piggyback ride, of course, since that was kind of a law at this point. Only the best transportation for Ms. Daisy. |