Who: Neal Cassidy, Leliana, with a guest appearance of Schmooples the Nug. What: Neal asks help in tracking down his stepfather. When: Todayish! Where: Cutesy little French bistro~ Rating/Warnings: Low. Status: Complete!
Neal didn’t know what the hell a ‘Schmooples’ was, but it was basically the most adorable, ugly thing he’d ever seen. At an outdoor table at the French patisserie (the finest in Orange County, with the very best pastries both sweet and savory) he had the little nug wrapped up in her cozy blanket, and was holding her like one would hold an infant while simultaneously nannying and enjoying a meal. She had very human-like hands, which was creepy as fuck, but actually those snuffing noises she made were similar to ones a baby might make, kind of? So it worked. Instead of wanting to dig around in the dirt, she actually stayed still and experienced the royal treatment of being fed little carrot pieces while her mom and her pastry companion splurged on the other stuff.
He had an almond croissant, and they were good here - sweet, but not to the point where the flavor of the paste punched you in the face. And in addition to that, baba aux rhum (rum-soaked soft dough and fresh fruit - he’d probably bring some to go, for his pouty pirate friend) and the sablés (butter cookies) split between them. Goddamn, he was going to explode.
“It’s so cute,” he cooed for like the hundredth time. Yeah, Schmooples officially won Neal over. What of it.
Out of all the odd little things Leliana had ever seen…
“Perhaps she’d look lovely in a bonnet, don’t you agree?” Oh, she would simply sit back and stir the creamy parfait, mixed with granola and condensed milk, as she watched the display of fatherhood Neal so graciously showered her bunnypig with. And Schmooples, darling Schmooples was so timid and odd that she’d simply remained still with her funny little sounds and let herself be cradled like a baby. Most likely she was uncomfortable but so non-aggressive that there wasn’t a struggle.
But those little fingers popping out from the confines of the blanket did make it appear as if he was holding a legitimate baby. How funny!
“I feel as though I have found a competent nug-sitter in you…?”
This was Neal and Schmooples bonding, okay, and she liked the carrots. But then he gave a rough chuckle, shifting the nug so she was set down on the ground (free to be all hairless and cute to her hearts content, he doubted she’d wander far) and he could pay full attention to his almond croissant and his very large cup of coffee. He’d need it if he was going to actually go over with Leli what he was planning. And it kind of made him sick.
“Should you ever require my services as a nug-sitter, I’m there,” Neal promised grandly. “I wish I got something that awesome from dreams.” No, he just got bullets and possessions courtesy of the Dark One. Nice. “How’s the parfait? Still good?”
Schmooples was more than pleased to be put down on the ground, those snuffnuff sounds a little louder, and she remained close to their feet lapping up leftovers from the floor. “I will keep that in mind,” Leliana mused, licking her lips. “And delicious, yes.” Not to mention a little healthier, but she did exercise enough to burn the excess pastry consumption. But her and Neal just had a habit of going to places like these, didn’t they? Her sweet tooth was notorious and he was exploiting it!
But observant as ever, an eyebrow lifted right as she stuck another spoonful into her mouth. A little bit to swallow, and then… “You acted like you asked to meet with intention. And while Schmooples would be flattered to know that it would have been to see her - something is troubling you, oui?”
Neal wasn’t worried about the calories either. He’d work it off, one way or another. Either by good, old-fashioned hard labor at the ranch or sweating under Regina’s pungent gaze - though she’d been a little better about the Emma situation, maybe she was calming down. He could hope. So he sneakily reached for another cookie, being careful not to step on the Schmoop as shehe she snuffed about licking up delicious tidbits from the floor.
“It was mostly her,” he grinned crookedly, a crinkle of lines in the same spots by dark eyes. “But, well...no...actually...” Not like he could keep this a secret, because Leli had sharp, keen hawk vision and would notice his fidgeting sooner or later. Hell, she already had kind of zeroed in on it. Their history wasn’t really that complicated, so it wasn’t like he’d be tripping over his words - she had her network, her and his stepdad had crossed paths, she knew of him, and probably could easily find him now.
He sighed, breaking the cookie in half. “Been feeling extra sentimental lately. Or masochistic, who knows. Might be a good time to get in touch with the old man.”
Oh.
Well, wasn’t that a surprise? “Is it your upcoming nuptials that are making you sentimental?” Leliana had to set her yogurt down and reach out for something a little more savory to bite into. Now the conversation turned into something a little less expected - business matters, is how she categorized this as - and it wouldn’t be a problem, not at all.
A favor for old friends, why not? She followed up on old connections every now and again, and his father was quite the old connection.
“How long has it been, since…?” It’d been awhile, enough for Leliana to not want to count the years by fingers. Otherwise she’d need flatout rum instead of the dough soaked in it.
The cookie was dunked into Neal’s coffee, and he shrugged. “Been about fifteen years since I’ve seen him.” Since he left his stepson on the side of the road. Neal never got an explanation for that, though he’d made plenty of guesses as time passed - starting with ‘it was something I did, I wasn’t good enough, he hated me’ to ‘he was a bastard’ to ‘maybe he was trying to give a kid a better life...in the worst way possible.’
He didn’t know what his stepfather’s motivations had been. And it had frequently kept him up at night.
“But I guess the nuptials are making me nostalgic,” he admitted, bite of coffee-soaked butter cookie going into his mouth. “I don’t even know if he’s still alive.” Then again, after the debacle with Lina killing her old boss in New York, and the cleanup crew Neal called in, they’d have mentioned if the old man bit the dust. “...to be honest, I kind of miss him. He was all I had for some time there and he taught me let’s just say useful things.” Oh yeah. Leli knew all about those things.
Leliana knew about all the useful things. They were skills that you were taught, not born with, and everyone had a mentor at some point. Hers was an ex-lover, his was the only father figure he had ever had and emotions tended to be complicated. “He was the closest thing to a father, no?” Ties like that were hard to sever completely. There were always ghostly strings that stubbornly lingered, no matter how things ended.
No more sweet smiles and bright eyes; the redhead had a look to her that looked predatory, serious. Dusting her lap from a couple crumbs, she reached over to grab the handle of her cup - this place really did have some of the cutest supplies - and took a slow sip of hot blackcherry chai. “Out of love for you, Neal,” she began, words like that never leading up to anything good. “I’ll recommend that you do...not get your hopes up. In case. It will not take me long to track him down. But there is also a chance he does not want to be found.”
“Yeah.” Neal scrubbed his hand over his face, kind of wishing he brought a shot of something strong for the coffee. But whatever. He picked up the mug and took a large swallow. “My biological dad was around, being a complete fuckup and leaving me to raise myself...but he wasn’t ever really there, you know?” he sighed. Not in the way that the man who’d married his mother had been.
The divorce happened when Neal was very young, and he barely remembered that. Barely remembered his mother leaving - fuck, he must have been only just in first grade, waiting with his lunchbox and backpack for someone to pick him up from school that day. Only no one came, not until later, when his distraught father finally did, and had to find a way to tell him that she was never coming home. He was really damn sick of parental figures who didn’t give a shit, and couldn’t even be assed to pretend like they did. Who maybe loved him but loved themselves more. Both he and his dream self had that familiar ache in common, and he didn’t think there was anything worse than the sting of abandonment..
Still, Leli’s words would be heeded. Neal tried to be optimistic even in the worst of times, but he wasn’t going to fool himself into thinking this would be sunshine. “I just want the closure, I guess,” he said. “Good or bad. And I’ll owe you a favor.” He lifted an eyebrow. “Good or bad.”
Leliana breathed a sigh, her expression softening. “You owe me nothing.” And it was the truth - rarely did she let her friends owe her anything. She hand-selected her company quite carefully and kept them close to her heart, even if distance was between them. “Consider this as one of your wedding gifts, hm? If it makes you feel better.”
It wasn’t hard to have a soft spot for Neal, either. And Leliana had a big one for him - sweet and humble with a dash of utmost manliness. Him finding a sense of happiness in a place so odd was happy news! And with a wedding in the future, family tended to be part of that, it’d be a thought that would naturally cross his mind even if the man didn’t attend.
“I’ll find him. You can trust me with that. And how would you want to handle it, when I do?” Surprise him, by showing up at his location? Have Leliana play diplomat between the two? Really, this was his request - she’d do whatever he needed and felt comfortable with. It wasn’t the easiest thing.
Neal wasn’t really all that good with letting people do favors for him (he always felt like he needed to repay something) but if Leli wanted to look at it like a wedding present, then he’d be okay with it. “Alright,” he relented, but likely would try to see if she needed help with anything in the future regardless. And he’d at least spring for the delicious pastries today! He had no doubt that she’d find his stepfather though (if he was still breathing), so it was just a matter of figuring out where to go from there.
“If he’s alive, then yeah, I wanna see him,” Neal sighed. “I’m not sure if he’d try to run or not, if you told him I was looking for him. So I’ll just catch him off guard. Won’t give him a choice about talking. I mean, I think I’m owed that at the very least.” He wasn’t worried about the criminal entourage the man surrounded himself with either - they all knew Neal, and word had to have gotten back by now, about how he’d called them in New York when he needed shit to get done.
“Rest assured, you’ll see him. You will have to tell me about his look of surprise, too.” And she’d be a little proactive, make sure she would foil any plans of him moving elsewhere before Neal got there, that way it wouldn’t be a chase. Leliana’s eyes and ears were practically everywhere, others owed her favors, it shouldn’t be too difficult.
Schmooples stretched out lazily underneath the table, deciding to ever so generously warm Neal’s feet with her hairless chubbiness. “Hope for the best and expect the worst, I suppose. If it is meant to be, then it shall be.”
“I’ll take heartwarming pics,” Neal smirked, and fine, he wouldn’t really. But he’d be sure to tell Leli everything. Even if the reunion was like a Category 5 hurricane in its intensity, which it very well could be. Distracted by considering the stomach-churning situation, he reached down and gave Schmooples more pets and scratches while she acted as a footwarmer. A hairless blob of fat, who needed a blanket during those cold winter nights?
He tended to think that there was a reason for a lot of things too - as in, no matter how hard you tried (and if you overcompensated, it quickly morphed into some kind of ironic self-fulfilling prophecy) you just really couldn’t stop fate. What was meant to be, would be.
“Anyway, but I didn’t drag you here just to ask for a favor. You’ve been fine? Want any more cookies, by the way?”
Schmooples was in her happy place, being coddled after snacking on the crumbs on the floor. Even rolled over a little to expose that belly to Neal, a sign of feel free to continue, human!
Leliana had to peer under the table an quirk a brow, before returning her focus to Neal and the fruity chai she’d been nursing throughout the conversation. “Work and some play, so I cannot really complain.” She had to admit that she did like it here, quite a bit - many people she knew were in one concentrated area and she was feeling spoiled, being the company of friends this often. It was a luxury she wouldn’t take for granted, even if the thought of this can’t last forever danced at the edges of her mind, a haunting ghost that brought her back to the realities of her work choice. “And I get to see your cute little face more often than not, so there are plenty perks.”
She had to wink and giggle, sweet and melodic. It was her thing to make Neal squirm and maybe blush. Clearly she was being playful, and it was a habit she couldn’t quit easily.
Damn, a belly exposure and remarks about his cute face (which he didn’t tend to think was cute, really, mostly just rugged and always in need of a shave). That combo meant Neal didn’t just blush, he smacked his head on the edge of the table on the way up from feeding Schmooples more scraps - mostly from his almost croissant, which was mostly finished. There was a crack and a hey, a rough laugh from him, as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.
“I guess a mixture of work and play, a healthy bit of each, is all we can ask for, yeah?” he grinned. “Especially here. It’s like coming home, but also...adding a whole crapton of weirdness to your plate, getting used to that, and the fact that you never will really be able to define the concept of normal again.” But if he never moved to the OC, he’d never have reconnected with Ruby. Or any of the others from his past, nor would he have made the friends-family connections he did. So he was grateful. It helped to maintain a healthy dose of that when things got bad.
Leliana had to bite back a laugh, otherwise the beverage she was currently sipping on would have unattractively sprayed across the table and, well, wasn’t that just the rudest thing. “Be careful there, dear Neal. I wouldn’t want to explain to your fiance why you’ll be returning to her with a concussion.” Or she could, and spin it as an adventurous tale of epic proportions. Ever the story-teller.
His explanation about this peculiar place was spot-on, however. Reports of its curious afflictions had crossed her desk a couple times, along with familiar names. It was definitely worthy of investigation. And recent contracts let her over to this location regardless, so the timing was impeccable. “I am not entirely used to the concept of normal, so the shock isn’t so much on my behalf. I’m mostly fascinated.” Her glossy lips tilted into a smirk. “I suppose it spices things up more, despite the hardship it brings. It makes you realize just how connected to people you truly are, even in another world.”
“Connected, yep,” Neal snorted a laugh. “Forever and ever. Stuck with the rest of the weirdos until the end of time.” Because what the fuck else would you do, once you were finished dreaming? You could never go back to the way you once were. It was inevitable. He just felt sorry for people who didn’t handle change well, because shit, they were in for one hell of a ride.
Sitting up straighter, he swiped the black billfold when it arrived. Letting Schmooples snort and snuff under the table, in a cloud of belly-scratched bliss. “Okay, so I’ve got it. Plus extra cookies and rum-dough to go. Anything else for the lady?”
Really, him covering the expenses of their little outing wasn’t necessary, but she knew the degree of Neal’s stubbornness so she’d pick her battles carefully. Which meant he could happily buy their snacks of indulgence, if it’d make him feel better. “It hit the spot. What about you, Schmooples? Hm?”
Snuffsnuff was the nug’s response, still stubbornly laying on Neal’s feet in utter comfort. Move her, humans, Schmooples dares you.
“Huh. She’s more pleased than I am, would you look at that.”