The Estate, After Lunch, (Morning Fandom Time)

[glacial_queen]

When Mallory had been asked by Queen Ilyse and Prince Audric to come tutor their young daughter, he had been honored and delighted. Several months later, the shiny had been rubbed off both the honor and delight, but he had become fond of enough Karla to continue to teach her for years, up until the tragic accident that had claimed her parents' lives and gotten her shipped off to live with the local Hourglass coven her aunt Kay had been a part of. When Hobart had announced Karla's 'death,' Mallory had spent a week mourning the spoiled, yes, but also sweet, imaginative, and precocious child he had taught.

In the years she'd been gone, time and nostalgia had blunted the worst of her childhood antics, helping him forget that classes were just as often characterized by biting, kicking, crying, and arguing as they were learning, studying, and behaving (Darkness bless behaving.) All that had come rushing back to him over the past four days, dealing with her much-younger self--and her much-younger friends. Even being the Steward to the headstrong and still impetuous Queen and her entire Court was easier than this.

Mallory couldn't help but reflect on these facts as he pulled Karla down the hall by her ear. He'd caught her in his office a few moments earlier "playing" some kind of game that had involved a jam sandwich and a great deal of ink all over his desk, his chair, and the floor. Coincidentally enough, those were the same places he could see much of his paperwork, also under the ink. Any last ideals he'd had about respecting the Queenly dignity she was due as an adult when flying out the window (possibly with more of his papers) as he'd grabbed her ear and began dragging Karla towards her room, a bath, and the tender mercies of anyone who was not him.

What neither of them had been expecting, however, was for the filthy, shrieking child was to suddenly return to being an equally-filthy-but-less-inclined-to-shriek adult halfway towards their destination. It was Mallory who ended up yelping when the ear he was pinching shot up two feet in the air.

"Karla!" he said, half-surprised and half-thrilled. "You're back!" Before she could respond, however, he was grasping her shoulders with a hissed, "Don't you move or I will throttle you," and running off to find Julian, Morton, and anyone else he could find. Their Queen was an adult again. They were going to get this bloody coronation over with before something else could happen, come Hell or high water.

[NFB, open for folks what are here, SP is gonna be a thing, pls to be waiting for OCD]

Comments

Re: And all around the estate came chaos...

[warren-jr.livejournal.com]

"I'll keep that in mind then," Junior said, mostly to have something to say. An event that lasted a weekend on that island lasted four days here lasted, what, heartbeats? in his own world?

Just his now. Warren had renounced it months ago, a year ago, three weeks ago and today just made it that much more official.

After several days of having his son back, it stung to know he was on the verge of losing him again.

"So...about these past few days," he hedged, trying to keep the conversation going just a few moments longer.

Re: And all around the estate came chaos...

[wwiii]

Was this a conversation that Warren actually wanted to get into? He wasn't terribly used to his father attempting to drag out a conversation, either, though his answer was fairly noncommittal as he picked an invisible piece of lint from his shirt sleeve.

"About them?"

They had definitely been days, alright.

Re: And all around the estate came chaos...

[warren-jr.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Junior would have appreciated a little help there, Warren. Thanks for not making this any easier.

"They were very..." He searched for a word. "...Nice."

And then winced. That sounded terrible, weak, and watered-down.

"Eye-opening, I mean," he attempted to clarify. "And interesting. But also very nice."

Re: And all around the estate came chaos...

[wwiii]

Nice.

Nice. Warren almost barked out a laugh at that. Nice? Warren himself generally didn't like these weekends. They were far too rife with reminders of just how terrified he'd been as a child, how desperate he was to please his father, to make up for the horrible crime he'd committed by becoming a freak.

So there was a bit of a bitter tone in his voice as he gave his reply, sparing his father a skeptical, sideways sort of look.

"And was it so eye-opening because of the large, intimidating Eyrien who was encouraging me to give my wings a stretch the entire time?"

Because Lucivar could terrify pretty much anyone into realizing just what sort of idiot they were.

Re: And all around the estate came chaos...

[warren-jr.livejournal.com]

"Was that large, intimidating Eyrien encouraging me to read you stories at bedtime?" Junior asked with quiet dignity. "Or to hold you while you napped?"

Re: And all around the estate came chaos...

[wwiii]

"Wasn't somebody?"

Warren couldn't look at his father when he said that. There was a spot over his shoulder on the other wall that got that honor.

For all he knew, Lucivar could have easily taken his father aside at some moment when Warren was distracted and offered him a few of his choices. Be a decent human being for once, or else sit down and have a long conversation with Saetan about fatherhood, perhaps? Because wow, there had been a definite lack of storytime or a lap to nap on for the twenty years leading up to this weekend.

Re: And all around the estate came chaos...

[warren-jr.livejournal.com]

The vote of confidence was much appreciated, truly. Junior winced and looked away.

"Not really, no." Barely anyone had said a word to him, in fact. At least, of the adults. Little Karla had had a lot to say. "I've spent the last year learning all the ways I am a failure to my son. Is it so surprising that I might want to take the opportunity to rectify a bit of that when I had the chance?"

Re: And all around the estate came chaos...

[wwiii]

If Junior was hoping for votes of confidence, Warren was probably not the person to look to for them.

"To put it bluntly, Dad, yes. It's a little surprising."

Re: And all around the estate came chaos...

[warren-jr.livejournal.com]

Junior nearly tugged at his hair in frustration. "What will it take to convince you that I'm serious? I'm practically bankrupting the company to provide the supplies Karla bargained for in a timeframe that my employees consider insane! Doesn't that say something?"

Re: And all around the estate came chaos...

[wwiii]

"It says," Warren hissed, wheeling on his father, wings flaring slightly, "that you have a guilty conscience! It says that you're finally figuring out just how much you fucked up over the years! It says a lot, Dad, but it still doesn't say 'I'm proud of you,' or 'I'm sorry,' or even, 'I'm happy you're happy.'"

And he would have killed for any one of those things. An apology or a blessing. Something.

Re: And all around the estate came chaos...

[warren-jr.livejournal.com]

Blame the weekend full of children, of bruised shins, of quiet moments haunted by the bleak look in his son's eyes and the echo of bad daddy that he would hear for the rest of his life. Blame it on the disapproval and disdain he saw in the eyes of the other adults, the way his son had shrunk from him but had turned towards Lucivar like a plant to sunlight, on days full of not belonging after decades of being sought after. For all of those reasons and many more, Junior's own control on his temper snapped and he found himself all but roaring back.

"Why would it matter how much I fucked up over the years if those things weren't true?! Why would I have a guilty conscience if I didn't care about you, wasn't sorry for what I've done? Why would I be here, watching your nineteen year old fiancee get crowned queen of some insane, magic country if I didn't give a damn?!"

Re: And all around the estate came chaos...

[wwiii]

"Because even crappy parents can sometimes be decent people from time to time? But if you really actually care so much then say so!" Warren practically was roaring back, straightening and spreading his wings, holding his hands out in plain view. "Look me in the face, look at me, wings and claws and all, and tell me that! Don't just keep throwing money at the problem hoping it'll go away, the way you always do!"

It had been how his father always dealt with a problem. Was it any wonder even now that it was something that Warren himself all too often defaulted to, when he was at a loss for anything else to try?

Re: And all around the estate came chaos...

[warren-jr.livejournal.com]

The explosion was small but all the more powerful for it.

"I love you, Warren!" Junior exclaimed, throwing his arms out to the side. "Wings and all! Claws and all! Tiny girlfriend that spent the weekend kicking me and all! Okay? I love you. I failed you! I admit it and I'm sorry."

Re: And all around the estate came chaos...

[wwiii]

"I..."

The last thing Junior probably needed to see was just how taken aback Warren looked at that statement. Possibly even less than he needed to see the way Warren looked as though he'd just been kicked in the guts. What was Warren supposed to say to that? He'd been doing nothing but running and fighting for the past few years and this was possibly the first time he'd heard his father say in so many words that he'd screwed up.

"I love you too, Dad."

Even that came out soft and tired. Almost sounding defeated. He couldn't say it was okay, because it wasn't. It hadn't been for a long, long time. But that much was true. As much as it hurt, as much as it had continued hurting, Warren still loved his father.

Re: And all around the estate came chaos...

[warren-jr.livejournal.com]

The way he said that scraped Junior raw. He'd never been demonstrative. Not with his son, not with his own father, certainly not with his wife. But he'd wanted to hear those words for so long, to know that he hadn't completely destroyed any chance of repairing their relationship.

Now that he had, he felt even worse. It hadn't sounded like reconciliation. It had sounded like a confession that Junior had dragged out of him.

"My god, Warren, if I wanted to get rid of you, would I be here?" he asked, aware that this was another one of those increasingly-fewer chances he had to try to make things right. "You've made your life here, in another universe, in a world I'm not part of. If I were ashamed of you, I could just let things stand the way they are. But I'm not. I'm here, trying to be as much a part of your life as you'll let me! I'm not buying you off, I'm doing what I can to help you and your new...family...prosper. I'm trying to be here for you in all the ways I can be, to try to make up for all the times I wasn't when you were young."

Re: And all around the estate came chaos...

[wwiii]

Warren found himself staring at his father silently for a long moment, before shrugging a shoulder and looking down at the floor. There was an awkward sort of slouch in his shoulders, something just shy of a fidget in the way he was folding his wings.

"I never thought you wanted to get rid of me. I'm just still trying to wrap my head around the idea that maybe for once there's not something about me that you're desperate to change or hide or scrub away."