terribly sorry, officer (baelfiery) wrote in valloic, @ 2021-05-20 13:04:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !: action/thread/log, ₴ inactive: henry mills, ₴ inactive: neal cassidy |
WHO: Neal & Henry
WHAT: Some father-son bonding because it's about time
WHERE: One of the city parks
WHEN: Today? Maybe after school?
WARNINGS: No - there's chili dogs and feeding ducks, it's pretty wholesome
STATUS: Complete
It was always a bit odd at first whenever Henry had his dad around. He’d been so many different ages and so had his dad in the various worlds he’d landed himself in that it was weird to figure out how they fit together at first. It passed quickly after hanging out with him for a bit and finding his footing again. At least the version of his father that was here was the right age and not from some alternate world where his mom had died instead of him. That had been a lot to take in. So had Baelfire, even if it had been neat to get to know his dad when he was a kid and then later on as a teenager. The parks in the city were nice, way better than the dry desert he’d become used to in Texas. And while the forest had its share of crazy adventures he still missed the island of dinosaurs back in the other place. The one that they could actually visit and observe. He tossed some seed out for the ducks that were waddling around out in front of them before glancing over at Neal. “So how much do you think mom will want to murder someone if I got to go hang out with dragons?” Henry asked, trying to sound casual about it. Neal liked the city parks - there always seemed to be some kind of adventure to be found (like the last time he was here, he met Kady - who was throwing a bench with her mind, no big deal) and it was an ideal place to spend some time with Henry too. Good for feeding the birds (they brought plenty of seed), good for him and his Pokémon stuff, good to soak up some sunshine or water spray from a fountain, carried by the wind - there were food options too, the scent of hot dogs and pretzels in the air, mixing with the smell of freshly cut grass. It was a far cry from ancient Vallo, which was probably a good thing. Felt like a whole lifetime’s worth of adventure had been crammed into ten days and he definitely needed some time to decompress and unwind. Hot dogs slathered with cheese and chili wouldn’t hurt either, but that was on the agenda. “Maybe not too much?” he chuckled, answering Henry’s question. “As long as you keep her in the loop. Don’t make it a surprise dragon meeting.” That was generally the problem Regina had with Henry wandering into a cave to battle a monster because he heard people needed help - she didn’t find out til later. After ‘the worst’ potentially occurred. Which Neal could understand. “I could probably go with you too? That should help quell the murder tendencies. Why, is there a place to...meet dragons?” It was hard for Henry to reconcile the fact that they would always worry about him sometimes. He wasn’t an eleven year old kid anymore. He was seventeen, would end up graduating high school next year and technically be an adult. Considering at least two of his parents were technically ancient though--or well maybe not that old--he knew he’d always be seen as a child though. Or at least far beyond the age of eighteen. “Charlie Weasley has one.” Or maybe two. He’d mostly been into trying to come up with ways to get him to lure the one back to the reserve. “And his reserve from his world showed up too. I gave him some ideas on how to get the dragon back and things he might want to do with the locals.” Because if the past had shown Henry anything it was that Vallo probably wasn’t too fond of dragons. “I kind of want to do it on my own though.” He liked hanging out with his dad. The time they spent just one on one was great, but he wanted to have some of his own adventures too. And getting to maybe visit the reserve and maybe even figure out how he could help out, it was something he wanted to do on his own. Maybe he could turn it into a part time job. He’d need to quit WWW but that would be alright. Dragons definitely won out over jokes and candy. Oh, right - Henry wanted to hang out with dragons without his boring dad there, and Neal got that. Teenagers appreciated space and freedom to discover themselves or whatever - not that he would know from experience but, well. A good dad would be supportive of that sort of thing (and not just abandon their kid when times got tough - that was a whole other story, however). “It’s a professional dragon thing then,” he surmised - sounded that way, since it was a whole reserve dedicated to protecting and caring for those winged fantasy creatures. He’d seen some of Charlie on the network and he seemed like a decent guy, so Neal felt okay with Henry going to help him out. “That’s cool - I thought we were talking like, you go into another cave and hang out with a dragon.” Which would be a no-go, and Regina would murder him if he allowed that. Neal scattered some more birdseed, watching the ducks waddle along excitedly. “It’s okay with me though, if you stick with Charlie. We can talk to your mom about it. Keep her in the loop, like I said. She may want to ask him questions about his reserve too.” And, hell, Neal had to admit that he was curious about dragons as well - but he wouldn’t insist on tagging along. He’d just have to visit on his own time. “I don’t really go into the forest for fun.” Henry shrugged. It just wasn’t worth the hassle. Not when there was a whole city to explore and hang out in. There was plenty for him to do there but dragons were something he couldn’t so easily pass up. Some days he missed the hardcore survival training that Mr. Summers had used to offer though. It had been pretty cool to work with the others on surviving in various sorts of environments in the Danger Room. “But yeah, I mean he just said I could meet them for the help I offered. So we’ll see if it becomes an actual thing or not.” He hoped it would, but who knew. He thought Charlie would be able to handle his mom though, even if she was probably going to go hard on the protectiveness thing if she did end up talking to him. “Definitely going to keep her in the loops though.” It really didn’t surprise Neal that Henry didn’t want to get an after school job involving something ‘typical’ such as bagging groceries or delivering pizzas - no, in Vallo, there were better opportunities. Clearly. So he chose dragons, of all things. “Maybe adventuring does run in the family,” Neal observed, with a laugh. Admittedly, he probably would have gone for a similar occupation as a teenager - his circumstances were a lot different (and it had been a literal different era) but he still had that drive to really live life to the fullest and see what was out there. He especially did now. Staying at home sometimes was good when you needed a break, but ultimately he saw the appeal in trying new things. “How’s school going? And everything else?” he asked, observing the ripple of the pond and the duck (white with an orange bill) dipping its head into the water and shaking. Looked like a fun time. “Also, chili dogs. I think one might be necessary.” “No one ever says no to chili dolls.” At least no one sane did in Henry’s opinion. Especially not with extra chili. “But school is good. It’s almost done for the year which is great.” He liked learning but with summer break so close he couldn’t help but want to enjoy it. It would give him more time to focus on his own writing projects, nothing big but some short stories he’d been having fun jotting down here and there. “And everything else is pretty good. I think Molly and I reclaimed all of the gyms we lost while we were in Ancient Vallo.” That had been a task. Not exactly difficult, just time consuming and annoying to need to do. “What about you? How are you doing here?” It was almost summer, yeah, and in Neal’s opinion? There wasn’t anything better than enjoying the blank canvas of a hot dog during those prime months - whether it was from a cart or a stand or someplace else like the boardwalk; in New York, those carts were located on pretty every block and he had definitely taken advantage when he was living there. In the park, he was eager to try the offerings - hopefully they had that same satisfying snap of a New York dog, but smother it in chili and liquid cheese and you really couldn’t go wrong anyway. Leaving the ducks to the birdseed, he headed in the direction of sustenance. “Glad you got the gym stuff all settled - you can continue reigning superior at the Pokémon thing,” he grinned. He still didn’t really understand it but Henry seemed to like it - plus, it was a benign yet fun activity that didn’t mean he was out rolling on ecstasy so Neal couldn’t really complain. “I’m good too. I like it here - I mean, it’s weird, but. I guess I should be used to that.” Nothing about his life had been normal before, so. Why change it now? “Cleaned out some of the castle and people took a couple things. Still not sure what I’ll do with it - maybe make it a hotel getaway.” Fairytale castle - could be a draw? Henry had gotten used to the continuous change of craziness from one world to the next--partially because of home, but mostly because of what had happened to him since he’d been pulled from his own world about five years or so ago. One world change to the next and all of the insanity with the cruises that took them to even weirder places--some fantasy ones and a lot in space. He was not a fan of space considering the xenomorph and black hole experiences. It just had not been worth it. Give him giants and magic and that kind of craziness any day of the week. He missed his other mom and some of the friends he’d made, but Vallo was a lot nicer than Texas had ever been. Especially weather wise. And he had his dad again. Actually his dad and that was a definite plus. “I think it’d work as a cool bed and breakfast experience. People seem to like those around here,” Henry agreed as he ordered himself a chili dog and a coke. One chili dog, one Coke - or actually, that was two chili dogs and two Cokes because Neal got the same thing and pulled out his wallet to pay for it all. Bonding experience with the kid - honestly, it was all Neal had ever wanted as soon as he found out that Henry was his son. He’d cherished the few moments they’d had together - celebrating his birthday (a cake in the pawn shop, candles blown out and wishes made), play swordfighting, teaching him to sail. He was a bit older now but Neal still wanted more of those experiences to stuff into his memory bank for a rainy day - to rack them up. You never could anticipate when it would all be ripped away. He unfortunately knew that firsthand - and when he lay dying on the forest floor, his biggest regret was that he wouldn’t get to see Henry grow up. Wouldn’t ever know the kind of person he’d become - so, right, squandering a second chance would just be foolish. He’d dig his heels in and remain in Vallo until whatever forces at play took him away. If they ever did. “Bed and breakfast? Fancy,” he whistled teasingly, handing Henry his chili dog. They could maybe find a bench to eat on or something. “Yeah, that could work. At least it wouldn’t be gathering dust. And I wouldn’t have to run it.” No, he’d hire other people for that - and pay them decently. “At the very least, the library’s amazing. Belle made sure of that.” “I really need to check out the library,” Henry said as he sat down at a bench. He was surprised he hadn’t done that yet, but he’d wanted to give his dad time to go through the building and undo all of the traps that his grandfather had probably set up. One less thing to worry about before venturing inward. Plus Vallo had an extensive collection of books for him to busy himself with as well. Ones from home and others that he’d never heard of before. He had his comic book collection back too, which was nice for nostalgia purposes. He didn’t feel so bad about reading them here. Most of the Marvel side of things seemed to be from the movies anyway and the comics had always been his favorite. A nice escape from the insanity of his own life. Though he hadn’t known exactly how insane it really was when he’d first started devouring them. “I bet you could find plenty of people who want to work there.” Locals and Outlanders. Though it might be safer to hire locals since they didn’t really disappear. Neal was thinking along the same lines, that there were plenty of locals scattered throughout the forest - in the main village and otherwise - who would be up for a job at a castle. They had to make ends meet somehow, right? Especially when so many things ended up fucking with their crops - whatever monster of the month came out to play. “I’m definitely gonna look into it,” he said, taking that first bite of chili dog - and, yeah, alright. Maybe they weren’t in New York but that was still good. A good decision (and he was glad he’d grabbed plenty of napkins to split between the two of them - chili dogs were tasty but also messy as hell). “There are so many farms out there too, it’d be easy to do some farm-to-table type of breakfasts. That’s also all the rage.” Doing something with his father’s castle was like making lemonade out of lemons. It was a positive thing - considering he had no desire to actually live there. He was good with Henry and Regina in the mayoral abode. “Not as cool as dragons, but - still pretty cool?” Maybe about a six or seven on a one to ten scale. “It’s a solid six.” Probably for others it’d be even higher up, depending on how much they loved bed and breakfasts. Henry didn’t much care one way or another for them but thought it’d suit the place well. People liked new things to head to and try out. So might as well make it into something useful instead of a building just collecting dust. Henry let the conversation drift off as he enjoyed his chili dog, trying not to get too messy, though he used quite a bit of the napkins they’d snagged. It was nice to simply sit at the park and hang out with his dad. Something he hadn’t gotten to really do back home. Making up for lost time was at least one of the good things about these places. Even if there was no telling when anyone would come and go. A six? Yeah, alright - that was about what Neal thought too. Maybe he could make some decent cash flow from it as well, and that was a bonus - anything to help pull his weight and he wasn’t about to return to a life of crime or anything. He’d gotten his sticky fingers into coins and acquired them through less than savory means while stuck in the past but that was kind of a desperate, temporary situation. No, here he was all about new leaves (turning them over, that is) and second chances. Plus chili dogs - and chilling with his kid. Made all of the other bullshit seem worth it and he wasn’t about to rock the boat. He’d just sit here on the bench and look at nature, soaking up the sun - and he’d see what tomorrow brought. |