Virgil Hawkins (shock2ursystem) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-08-02 18:12:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, hazel levesque, virgil hawkins (static) |
Who: Virgil and Hazel
What: Hazel stumbles across Virgil playing basketball with a kid from the Ranch
Where: Some outdoor basketball court
When: This last weekend
Rating/Warning: Low/None
Status: Complete!
“I told you man, I got game. You’re going to have to be ballin’ at hoops if you hope to beat me,” Virgil said, dribbling the ball from one hand to another. He’d seen the boy playing at an outdoor court by himself, and had offered to shoot a couple of baskets with him. Moving to California was great. The weather was perfect, Stark Industries was great, and he could barely contain his excitement to finally be starting at CalTech in the fall. But he missed home. He missed Richie, and he missed the community center he’d gone to nearly every day for the last six years. He missed playing with the kids, and this was almost as good.
It seemed almost as soon as Virgil stopped talking, the kid had managed to steal the ball from him and made a break for the basket. “Oh no you don’t,” Virgil exclaimed, chasing after the kid, though never quite catching up with him.
The kid shot, and the ball circled the hoop once, twice, before finally falling into the basket. “Aw man!” Virgil exclaimed in feigned dismay, mostly succeeding in suppressing his smile.
The kid caught the basketball in his hands and turned to Virgil, but he caught sight of someone behind Virgil. “Hazel!” he called. “Hi!”
Now that she was out of school, Hazel was either out wandering or at the ranch. It was nice to have so much time and she really did like being able to help people at the ranch and get them involved in things that she felt very strongly about. Horses were her favorite thing. Plus, it kept her from focusing too much on how much like them she was when she first got to California. She’d been caught up in things she had no business being caught up in. It had been her mother drawing her into them, but it didn’t change that she’d been there.
But now she was caught up in different things. At this moment, she was following a tunnel she’d found. It was mostly because she didn’t actually have anything to do. She was pretty sure it was just a sewer, but she couldn’t actually tell without going down there...and she wasn’t really interested in going into a sewer for fun.
She’d been so distracted by the task that she almost didn’t hear her name. Looking up, she spotted someone she didn’t know and one of the boys that came around the ranch for lessons. “Hey,” she said, moving closer to the court. “Basketball today? Is it because you’ve memorized my schedule and don’t want to ride horses if I’m not around? Because I totally understand that.”
The boy shrugged, looking a little sheepish. “I don’t really like the girl working today much,” he said.
“Wait, hold up,” Virgil said, looking between his little pal and the girl who had just shown up. “Where you guys riding horses?” Virgil himself had never so much as sat on one before, though it had always sounded like it would be fun.
Hazel laughed a little, shaking her head. “Well, that’s unfortunate.” She knew some of the kids preferred certain people to others. She liked almost all of the kids. Even if they got smart with her, she tried to find a way to get them to work through it without taking it out on her.
Looking up at Virgil, Hazel felt a slight flush of embarrassment. “Oh. There’s...Neal’s Ranch. I just volunteer there. I started out taking lessons after I got here, but after a while, I wanted to volunteer there and help out kids like this one.” She reached over to ruffle his hair. “Do you like horses, too?”
The boy made a face and pulled away from Hazel, though not with any real conviction. With the look he gave Virgil, one that said ‘women, amiright?’ it was pretty clear he just didn’t want to be embarrassed in front of his super cool new friend. Which Virgil couldn’t blame him from. He was super cool, after all.
“Never met one, so I can’t say if I like them or not. I’ve always wanted to go riding,” Virgil said. “So it’s like a community center? That’s dope. I was kind of hoping to find something like that around here. I used to volunteer at one all the time back home.”
Hazel understood how it felt to be embarrassed, but she was usually not embarrassed by anyone doing those sorts of things. Only her dad managed to make everything just a touch embarrassing. But that was probably because he always added in nicknames. It took a lot of effort for her not to laugh at the reaction she got, but she managed all the same.
“You’ve never met a horse?” The disbelief was so obvious that she almost winced. Not everyone got the chance to be around horses. She’d been around them in Louisiana, but she never got to ride until she got here. Unlike her dreams where she got to ride them. “You should definitely stop by, then. I know all the horses, so I think I can match you up properly.” She smiled and nodded at his question. “Yeah, something like that. It helped me get acclimated to California when I first showed up here. I can give you Neal’s contact info if you want? He’s pretty easy to get along with and he’s always looking for more volunteers. I guess I can’t volunteer every day, so...you know.”
“There aren’t a whole lot of horses in inner city Detroit,” Virgil said, shrugging. He loved home, he did. But it sure was lacking in a lot of departments.
“You should really come! Hazel’s a great teacher!”
“I bet she is,” Virgil said, smiling at him. “I’d be amped if you wanted to show me how to ride sometime. And yeah, definitely give me this Neal’s contact. How long have you been volunteering there?”
“Oh.” Hazel supposed that would be the case. “I lived in New Orleans before, then Alaska, now here.” It wasn’t a huge place, but she’d gotten to see them all the same. “I guess it’s different. I’m sorry you didn’t get to see them before, though. They’re great.”
At the comment, Hazel felt her face heat up and she started to fan herself. It was a habit she already had, only made worse by the dreams, since she got flustered at the drop of a hat in her dreams. Honestly, it only got worse when Virgil spoke afterwards. “Ah. Okay. Sure. I can do that.”
She pulled a bit of paper out of her pocket and a pen from her bag, writing down whatever she thought he might need before handing it over. “Not as long as I’ve been riding there. Working toward a year?” She shrugged, trying to appear less awkward. “I’d like to work with horses when I’m older. I don’t actually know what else I’d do.”
Virgil was no stranger to being a little bit awkward. Most of his high school life was spent being awkward. Well, being awkward or goofing around with Richie, with the occasional beat down thrown in. The fanning thing was kind of cute, actually.
Virgil reached for the paper when a voice called out from the edge of the park. “Johnny, it’s time to go!”
“That’s my mom. I’ve got to go,” the kid pouted.
“It was cool playing with you little man,” Virgil said, giving him a fist bump. “Maybe I’ll catch you at this Ranch place.”
“That would be really cool!” Johnny said. “And I’ll see you next time you’re there, Hazel!”
Virgil turned back to Hazel once Johnny left. “When you’re older? How old are you now?”
Hazel waved to the boy as he was leaving. “See you! Have a good day!” It was good when they had families that cared because some families...just didn’t. Hazel had noticed that. It really depended on the kid.
When Virgil asked her age, Hazel felt her face heat up again, but she squeezed her hands together to keep from fanning herself again. It was one thing to do it once and another to just do it every time. Even if she did sort of do it a lot. “Oh. I’m 17, which I guess isn’t that young. I’ll be 18 in December, though.” December birthdays were always difficult, as far as Hazel was concerned, because you were too late to start with everyone your own age and too early to start with the January crowd. Plus, there was the matter of Christmas being the same month. “But I really don’t think there’s anything else I want to do. I’m not that great at school, so I don’t know that college is the correct plan of action. Plus, horses are the only animals that don’t hate me most of the time. Outside of my brother’s dog and my friend’s cat.”
“Well, I guess I’m not that much older than you. I just turned twenty a couplea months ago.” Though, being out of high school tended to make all the difference. “But college isn’t for everyone. I was always really good at school, so University seemed like the next logical step.” It wasn’t the same for everyone he’d graduated with, or even most of them. They didn’t have the money, or the grades, or didn’t see any point in it.
“Working with horses would be tight though. Teaching city boys like me how to not fall off’s bound to brighten up your day.”
She smiled. “That’s not too bad. My brother Nico is closer to you in age.” He was back home now for the summer, which was nice. “Yeah. It takes forever for me to get through any school readings because I have to make sure my brain is processing words and sentences right. It was a lot worse when I was younger, though.” She shrugged slightly. She didn’t hate school, she just didn’t want to go. She wanted to find a way to do what Neal did, what she was pretty much doing now.
“It’s definitely a lot of fun. I think my favorite part is matching up people and the horse that works best for them. It takes a little time sometimes, but eventually I’ll figure it out.”
“Dyslexia?” Virgil ventured. “I don’t wanna assume or nothing, but there was a kid I used to hang with down at my pops’ community centre back home who had troubles reading too.”
He grinned at that. “Well, I’ll be expecting a great match when you pair me up with my horse. I’ve been told I can be a handful, so you better make sure to give me a horse who can handle my e-lec-trici-tay.”
“Yeah. Dyslexia. Also ADHD.” She frowned slightly. But that wasn’t really unusual, she thought. Not from what she’d heard from the other demigods. “It just makes it take longer than usual. It’s a little frustrating when you are supposed to read a certain amount in one night. But I eventually get through it all. Or I make someone read out loud to me. One or the other. Audio books are pretty much my favorite thing.”
“Electricity? What are you going to do? Shock the horse?”
“If you ever need a tutour, I’ve been told I’m great at that kind of thing,” Virgil said, smiling reassuringly at her. He’d spent quite a bit of time helping his friends study, and he’d even managed to make a little extra money throughout high school and his first couple years of college by tutouring people who needed it.
Virgil laughed at that. “I don’t mean actual electricity,” Virgil said. He didn’t have any superpowers himself, though according to the network that kind of thing wasn’t too uncommon. “Just that I’m a lot to handle.”
“I might take you up on that. I need an unfortunate amount of help, though, so you should probably prepare yourself for that.” She knew it could be difficult and she felt stupid compared to pretty much everyone else she knew. Especially Nico. She did well enough, but she was a pretty average student. Nico did better...and she couldn’t help feeling very slightly jealous of it.
“Oh.” She laughed, hoping it seemed less awkward than she thought it was. “Well, I don’t think I would set you up with a horse that’s hard to handle, but I think I can find you one that will be able to handle you. I’m not sure what there really is to handle, but…”
“If you’re prepared to do the work, then so am I,” Virgil said, flashing her a bright smile. Really, he’d never had problems tutouring people, even ones with learning disabilities, so long as they were actually interested in getting tutoured. All it took was a bit of patience from him and a drive for them.
“My sister says I’m a handful, so I’m sure you’ll learn soon enough. Why don’t I give you my number? You can let me know when you’re free to teach me this riding business.”
Luckily she didn’t go through with her initial response, which was, Am I a Roman or not? One, it probably wouldn’t make much sense and two, that was a dream thing and Hazel couldn’t keep track of who all was part of the network and who wasn’t. She knew Sans, Nico, her dad, the general demigod population, Regina, Killian, and a few others. “I’m pretty equipped to do difficult things.” Which wasn’t a lie. Especially if you looked at her dream self.
“Nico would probably say I was difficult, but then he’s my brother, so I don’t know that I’d take him seriously.” Unless he told you to leave her or Bianca alone. He was pretty protective, but there was no reason to explain that. “I’m sure I can handle more than you think.” She laughed a little before pulling out her phone. “That would probably be useful.” She pulled a new contact up and handed it over.
“Good. Then I’d be honoured to lend a hand.” Anyone could probably do the difficult work if they put their mind to it, but Virgil had found that most people just didn’t bother. He was glad that Hazel certainly didn’t seem like one of them though.
Virgil quickly typed his name into the phone, and then handed it back. “Now, I’m starving. You wouldn’t happen to know to know of any places to grab some grub around here, would you?”
Hazel could put herself to the task of doing things that were difficult, it was just that school was more difficult than she really cared for. Especially the reading portion. But if she could get help, then that was different. Maybe she’d do better if she got help. “Thanks ahead of time and also sorry ahead of time. I usually do better with audio books. As long as I’m not really distracted.” Which was honestly a lot of the time.
Taking back her phone, Hazel smiled and sent off a message simply saying, “Hello. It’s Hazel” before she put it back in her pocket. “I think I can help you out with that, yeah. What sort of food are you looking for? I know a lot of pancake places because my dad has a habit of taking me to get pancakes when he’s trying to see if I’m okay or talk to me about difficult news. I don’t know if I’ve ever gone for normal reasons.” She laughed at that. “But I also know other places.”
“You don’t ever gotta apologize,” Virgil assured her. He grinned when he got her text, glancing at it briefly before placing his phone back in his pocket. “It is never a bad time for pancakes,” Virgil said. “If you wanted to come with me now, we could totally go for some totally normal pancakes.”
“Okay. Then I’m not sorry.” She smiled brightly then. “That's the way I see it. Pancakes are pretty much the best thing ever.” She tucked her hair behind her ears. “So I would totally be down to go for some totally normal pancakes with you.”
“You telling me. My moms makes the best pancakes you’ve ever tried. Sometimes she’ll even put chocolate chips and bananas in them.” They were the best, and while he was sure the local pancake house wouldn’t make pancakes nearly as good as his mother’s, but they’d definitely be better than his own. Or his sister’s. “Lead the way, Hazel.”