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Tweak says, "As You Wish"

dǫçţǫŗ şɭęęƥ (shone) wrote in valloic,
@ 2022-05-13 11:20:00

Entry tags:

!: action/thread/log, ₴ inactive: dan torrance, ₴ inactive: sabrina spellman

Dan & Sabrina

WHAT: Catching up on a nice day (with a very disgruntled Maze the hellhound)
WHERE: Vallo City park
WHEN: Last week sometime
WARNINGS: No, there is nada!
STATUS: Complete

Through everything she was always his Sabrina - years older now, not so young anymore, and maybe she didn’t need him. But he was still here.

She sat on the bench in the park, waiting for Dan to make it to the spot, and took a sip of the lemonade she’d purchased, a cup for him next to her. Maze lay at her feet, the sleek black hellhound whining at the brightness of the day.

“You didn’t have to come,” Sabrina reminded, bending over to scratch behind the hound’s ear. Maze simply huffed, pregnancy always seemed to attach her to Sabrina’s hip. Or at least that had been the case last time and looked to be holding true this time around too.

Spring was truly encompassing Vallo, the temperatures rising and Sabrina was pleased that jackets were a thing of the past again. Fall might have been her favorite season of the year, but there was something special about Spring. Maybe it was all of the rebirth happening around her, life coming forth from death. It was a nice sign for change, all the possibilities of things to come stirring in the air around her.

The months had blended in quickly with one another, each one passing much quicker than Sabrina had thought they would. Time was funny like that. Sometimes they’d stretch out, somehow a day seemingly never ending and then she’d blink and a whole year would almost pass her by.

She’d been in Vallo for over two years now, nearing two and a half, and yet, she was seven years older than when she’d arrived. It was difficult to reconcile that certain things had happened only two years ago when part of her considered them to have been five years prior. The mixing of memories made it harder--living out two versions of her seventeenth and eighteenth birthdays--but at least the ones in Vallo had all included happy ones.

Dan was, arguably, kind of a sucker for the youngin’ he’d bonded with so quickly, so early on his own beginning adventures in Vallo - he’d been here about two and a half years as well, very close to it, and it seemed like he’d taken a shine to Sabrina almost immediately. They’d evolved, of course, as all people do - they’d found happiness and then had it ripped from them, they’d pushed through the challenges that living in such an unstable environment tended to throw at them; he’d seen her smile and he’d seen her laugh and he saw her cry, many times, even held her as she sobbed - and sometimes they didn’t even need to say anything at all.

Through everything she was always his Sabrina - years older now, not so young anymore, and maybe she didn’t need him. But he was still here.

So when she asked him to meet her at the park he happily went, wearing jeans and a t-shirt and leaving the flannel at home because maybe Lucifer’s influence rubbed off and also because the weather was far too pleasant for flannel; the spring air was unspoiled and relief for his lungs everytime he breathed in. It carried the scent of freshly cut grass and clean sheets hung on a line, even if no one did that anymore. Not in the city. He approached the bench and saw Maze, ducking to give her a scratch behind the ears too, a swoop of his hand over the top of her head because she was a good girl.

“Hey Maze, not liking the sunshine?” he chuckled fondly. “Such a trooper.” Then he grinned at Sabrina. “Hey to you too,” he said, taking the lemonade and settling near her. “It’s nice out here. I’m glad spring arrived.” And it hadn’t arrived with a freak snowstorm or an earth-swallowing tornado or anything - small favors.

Things were easy with Dan. No, easy wasn’t really the right word, she decided. Comfortable seemed more correct. Natural was an even better. one She might not have known him her whole life, but some days it seemed as though she’d known him just as long as she had her aunts and cousin. He’d become a staple in her life, especially during her first two years in Vallo, helping her through more ups and downs than she could remember.

She might not have needed the guidance that she had back when she’d first arrived or the guardian that he had become for her any longer, but she counted him as family. And Sabrina had learned long ago that family was always needed.

“Maze isn’t liking much these days because she got herself knocked up again.” Sabrina eyed the hellhound who ignored her even as she laid her head down on Sabrina’s foot. “Though, this time with Thor’s hound, so I’m pretty sure we’re going to have complete chaos with this litter.”

Considering what happened when Thor and Lucifer got together, a hellhound and a helhound pup was bound to be trouble. “I can’t believe its already May. I swear January was yesterday.”

“Oh no,” Dan chuckled. He swirled the lemonade straw around in his cup before taking a sip - perfect for spring, perfect for summer; he always tended to associate sunshine and lemonade together in his mind for some reason. It wasn’t his first change of the seasons in Vallo, not even his first summer, and he hoped that it would be a good next couple of months. Maybe no extremely dramatic kidnappings or raining blood but, honestly, who was to say. “That’ll be interesting - I’m sure you already have takers for the puppies too, whenever they arrive?”

That was just a guess but people here seemed to have an affinity for caring for supernatural creatures that could eat you - the more danger, the better. Maybe it was an adrenaline rush thing, an aspect he didn’t understand because he was content to do the boring husband-nurse-parent thing with his small family, and they’d recently taken the plunge to adopt a senior dog. Wild.

“Also how are things? Allison and I are coming to Moulin Rouge this weekend too, by the way.” He always came to Sabrina’s shows. Just more tickets to add to her shadow box, commemorating each one.

“We’re not sure how many she’s going to have yet. I was going to see if Rory wanted one but other than that I think they’ll all stick around in Hell.” Grimm could use some siblings to hang out with and Sabrina thought Luci Jr might like that as well. “Maybe see if Thor wants to have one with him too.” But she wanted to keep them in the family, let Maze try and train them like she was doing with Grimm. The hellhound grunted her approval, shifting further under the bench to be in the shade.

Sabrina would have taken on one herself if she wasn’t certain that Salem would riot. He was going to be annoyed enough when the hellpups stuck around with her for the first few months.

“Things are good. I’ve been busy working with Thurvishar and school, plus play practice. It helped when dad took on Dorian’s so I didn’t need to worry about that anymore.” She hadn’t wanted it to fall apart, for all of Nick’s hard work to have been for nothing, but running the place hadn’t been something she knew how or wanted to do. “We’re both working on releasing the souls from Hell too. In our own ways.”

“What about you?”

The news about the club and also releasing the souls, all of that was good - please excuse Dan, he might have a couple of those I’m so proud of you moments. But it was written in the former guardian-family contract, and Sabrina was likely well used to them by now. “One less thing off your plate,” he said about Dorian’s. “Lucifer has Lux too, so - I think it’s in good hands.” The devil knew the ins and outs of running a club, of that Dan was certain. And he liked Dorian’s, even if he never drank there - but the idea of those colored cocktails and all the smoke effects and the magic happened to be really neat. He’d been proud of Nick too - and Dan also missed him. A lot.

“Pretty important stuff, releasing souls from Hell,” he grinned. It seemed like they’d come full circle, in a way - here Sabrina was, with her own chunk of Hell she hadn’t necessarily wanted or asked for. But she was doing the best she could with it all and had accepted that it remained here rather than wallowing in the fact that it was. “I haven’t been up to anything as exciting - just working a lot. And Allison’s doing well with the salon. Claire hasn’t set anything on fire. The biggest challenge is getting the kid to do her homework.” It was usually about twenty minutes a night, nothing too bad - numbers and counting this year, along with some reading exercises. She was growing up so fast. “I mean biggest challenge besides the ones we get on a monthly basis just by living here.” Yeah, you know - those.

It sounded nice and normal. Or at least as normal as Vallo allowed anyone. Which was good. Claire deserved to have some form of normal amid all of the chaos. Sabrina was proud of what she was managing to do with Hell now. She had despised its presence when it had first arrived, hated how it tied her back to the awful version of her father and all that entailed.

Getting to know the Lucifer here had helped with that. Being able to work side by side with him to release the souls was even better. It was also a nice ‘fuck you’ to the one who was half he DNA. It also helped that she wasn’t in charge of dragging anyone down to Hell. That would have been a thing at home and one that Sabrina never relished doing.

“I hope you didn’t get tickets for Claire, because Moulin Rouge is definitely not appropriate for her.” Maybe the next musical that she was in would be.

“No, definitely not - one of the in-laws will watch her,” Dan assured with a laugh, glancing down to make sure he wasn’t accidentally resting on Maze or otherwise irritating her (and irritating a pregnant hellhound seemed like a really bad idea). But she appeared to be fine - was just pointedly not sunning herself under the bench, and squirreling away from the comfy cozy daytime rays. “Probably Diego.”

He wasn’t sure if Vanya was playing in the orchestra or anything like that but if not, then maybe she could take a turn since Claire had recently gotten a chance to practice her secret knocks at her uncle’s place - it was important for her to spend time with each of them, considering she likely never would back in their home (which Dan didn’t want to think about at all - nope, going home was not an option).

“I still can’t believe you’re...you know, so grown up,” he added, glancing at Sabrina. She didn’t really look that much different between eighteen and early twenties, but - he could tell regardless. “I worry about you - I mean, not in the way that means I don’t think you can take care of yourself. But it’s just a lot.”

Unfortunately Sabrina was all too aware that going home was always an option. One that was out of their hands. Otherwise she wouldn’t have spent last December in a depressed haze, barely able to get out of bed because of Nick’s disappearance. He was alive and that helped soften the ache she felt being away from him now, but she still missed him. They’d gone from living in the Sweet Hereafter together to living with one another outside of it, to being apart. She was still with him back home, her life going onward without her in it, but that didn’t quite lessen the blow of not having him around.

Though maybe it would be alright to start putting herself out there again. She knew he wouldn’t want her to not live her life.

“Its weird thinking about things. Time is all wonky because was it five years ago or six months ago? But it was always wonky with my updates.” She didn’t think that would change any time soon. “I think I’m in a much better place now than I was before the last update though.” Sabrina wasn’t sure where she’d be now if she’d been still listlessly going through the motions most days and sobbing herself to sleep every night. “I know if has to be weird for you though.”

“It’s a little weird,” Dan admitted, but he said it fondly - in that well, Vallo is just straaaaange like that kind of way. He knew there was no changing the fact that they were basically just meant to be caught up in the various whims of the world - they couldn’t fight it, best to just go limp. Or sort of similar to escaping quicksand - there was a certain way to do it, and you had to learn how.

You had to make yourself as light as possible - move slowly. Try to float. Thrashing just made it worse, and then tended to be the case when caught in Vallo’s nonsense as well.

“But ultimately I know it’s a good thing, in many ways - I always want what’s best for you,” he said. So it was less about how he felt, really. And as long as Sabrina was on a good path (occasionally she’d stumble - we all did)? Then that was what mattered.

Sabrina thought she was on a good path in Vallo. She was able to have a life and still take care of the responsibilities she had there as well. It was a far better balance than she got back home, but for all of Vallo’s faults, it wasn’t ending the world on itself every few months and that seemed to be a theme in her world. One that she had to keep stopping from happening. It was ridiculous.

“I know you do.” And she appreciated that he did and that Dan had her back, even when she stumbled. Thankfully she felt like she hadn’t done too much stumbling in awhile. Which meant it would probably happen again very soon. But she’d had time to reflect, to distance herself from the enormous tasks she’d had to undertake at sixteen. Now she knew to let things breathe and that at least in Vallo she didn’t need to take on everything. There were plenty of others who could help.

It was nice not having everything resting on her shoulders.

“This place really isn’t so bad. Even when we’re being invaded by killer turkeys.” Though that was always insane. “Just wish it’d let us pick who stuck around a bit more.”

Ah, the killer turkeys. The fond reminder made Dan laugh. “That seems like so long ago,” he whooshed out an amused breath, and literally, it had been a year? Probably more? Everything sort of seemed to mesh together and he couldn’t exactly pinpoint exact dates for certain events - except for his and Allison’s wedding, of course. And the Valentine’s Day when he’d proposed, and it had been a hilariously disastrous pantless experience.

He remembered other good times too - like Yule with Sabrina and the rest of the family, or her birthday, or just those instances where they sat in the Grease Bucket and gave each other shit about carrot cake shakes (which were still on the menu, by the way). No, this place really wasn’t that bad at all.

“I do like it though. If I ever...disappear too,” he hedged, since he also wished they had more control over it - but knew as well as the rest of them that there was none of that. “...make sure Allison’s okay? I know you will, but. That’s what’s important to me. I don’t have much else to leave behind for you.” No wads of cash or a yacht or multiple houses - he’d given Sabrina his golden AA chip as a necklace awhile ago, and that meant more than most material things anyway.

If she’d still been seventeen Sabrina would have shied away from the idea of him disappearing, of being the one to check in on Allison. She’d understood the importance of it back then but had definitely not had the wherewithal to do so. Now, she did. She might yearn for people, miss them, but it wasn’t with the same volatile emotions that she had back then.

“I’ll make sure her and Claire are good.” Just like she’d check on him if Allison were the one to leave. Sometimes it seemed a little less likely for the likes of them who were considered the ‘old timers’ at this point, but nothing was permanent in Vallo. No matter how long anyone had been around. It’d be nice to say they would always have the memories but that wasn’t the case if they were sent back to their respective worlds. This place was a fleeting blip in the grand scheme of things, but it was a good one. All anyone could do was enjoy the time they had with one another.

“I don’t think Vallo is done with either of us yet.”

It was the best - maybe Vallo itself wasn’t (because come on, how often did Dan want to punch its figurative face for sending killer bunnies and turning his clinic job into sixteen-hour days because of all the injuries) but the people were. The connections he’d formed, the love he’d experienced - all types of love, the warmth of it foreign to him. A kid who had grown up scared and alone, and then who wasn’t doing much better for himself in terms of emotions during adulthood either - man, how much he’d learned since being here.

“I don’t think so either,” he shook his head, lips twitching up into a half smile. He felt rooted, firmly planted - and if Vallo was going to chuck him back to being dead, well, he’d made the most of his time here. There wasn’t much he’d change, even if he couldn’t remember a damn thing about this place; there wouldn’t be any regrets regardless.

Sluuuuurp, there went the last of that lemonade. “You want to take a walk or something? If Maze doesn’t mind.” He was just eager to spend more time out here and soak in the serenity of the park, before he and Sabrina parted ways.

Maze didn’t look happy at the prospect of needing to move about in the early afternoon sun but Sabrina nodded. “I’ve got time and walking would do her some good.”

She winked at the hound and a dark rain cloud formed over top Maze, never actually spilling any rain but giving her the shadowy coverage that she desired. It seemed to do the trick because the hellhound finally crawled out from under the bench.

What better way to spend an afternoon than hanging out for a bit in the park with people you loved?