Chilly Boulder, Monday Afternoon

[dollpocalypse]

Having children was -- surprisingly frustrating, but not in the way Topher would have thought it would be. It turned out that all three of his were pretty smart, which wasn't a shock, and were therefore less annoying than most kids, but (and it was stupid that this stung, but it did), particularly when it came to Genevieve and Maria, they were also more than a little bit jaded about his parenting skills.

And it bugged him. Because he hadn't even gotten a chance to try parenting yet, and here were these kids who already thought he was crap at it. It wasn't fair.

So he'd wrung his hands a little and tried to figure out a way to possibly win over Gen, at least. Ice cream, he thought, might be a good start.

[[open! with probable flashes of SP on my end, though.]]

Comments

[mostlysociopath.livejournal.com]

"Ice cream."

Well. As far as Topher went, it was par for the course. Genevieve supposed she shouldn't judge him for it when he was trying.

"... Fine, just no strawberry."

[dollpocalypse]

"Deal," Topher agreed, swinging his arms awkwardly. This was going to be tough, he decided. "Chocolate okay?"

[mostlysociopath.livejournal.com]

Gen tilted her head and actually seemed to think about it. "Okay," she said, "But only if it's combined with another flavor. Let's not be boring."

[dollpocalypse]

"Well, uh... what do you like?"

[mostlysociopath.livejournal.com]

Gen crossed her arms and leaned back. "Something more sophisticated," she said.

He could figure it out from there. What? She never said she wasn't going to make him sweat for it.

[dollpocalypse]

Topher was officially giving this issue way more thought than a choice between ice cream flavors really merited. "Um," he said, with a helpless little shrug and a glance at the board of options, "well, I really like the kind with the crushed-up chocolate chip cookies..."

Maybe she would too? Was ice cream preference inherited?

[mostlysociopath.livejournal.com]

Gen ran that over in her head.

Then she took a peek at the ice cream itself.

Then she leaned back.

"It'll do," she said.

Oh god, she wanted that ice cream.

[dollpocalypse]

"Great," Topher said, relieved. "You can sit, I'll just --" Lots of hand-wringing -- "yeah."

He set off to get the ice cream, taking a few deep breaths and reminding himself that she couldn't possibly hate him or anything just from this. It didn't really matter, though, and all he succeeded in doing before returning with two large cups of ice cream was freaking himself out more. Yeah, he suddenly really understood why Peter had been reluctant to let him watch her.

"So, uh," he said, sliding the ice cream across the table to her when he returned. "Want to... tell me about yourself?"

Oh good god. He was the worst parent ever.

[mostlysociopath.livejournal.com]

She met his eyes with hers, then met the ice cream with her hands. Took a spoonful of it and took a bite, first - toguro, that was good - before leaning back.

"Maybe," Gen said. "What do you want to know?"

[dollpocalypse]

There were a lot of questions that sprung to mind -- like how on earth he and Peter had become a thing, and what living with that was like, but that didn't seem like a good way to try to get to know her. And since anyone with Peter and Topher's genes (however on earth that happened) would inevitably possess some degree of self-absorbedness...

"You, uh. Do well in school?"

[mostlysociopath.livejournal.com]

"I'm home-schooled," Gen said boredly.

Mostly because she couldn't say 'because I live in the Hegemon compound and there are security risks'. "But I do well in international standardized tests."

[skycrawlers.livejournal.com]

You know who else enjoyed ice cream? Ben Skywalkers!

Yes, in the plural.

This particular incarnation was causing amused grins for the staff behind the counter (being more than slightly acquainted with the taller version) as he decided which of the chocolates he wanted to try.

[dollpocalypse]

"...oh my god," Topher said, looking up from his conversation with Gen in order to stare. It was possible that this was the greatest thing that had ever happened to his player him.

"...Ben?"

[skycrawlers.livejournal.com]

Ben turned around. "Yes?"

[dollpocalypse]

He... he... he was so tiny!

"...whatcha doing?" Topher settled on. Even though, yes, it was a little obvious.

[skycrawlers.livejournal.com]

An older Ben would have told Topher that he was knitting a sweater, just to be a pain.

"Buying ice cream," Ben said instead. "Don't you know what ice cream is?"

This was just figured Topher was kind of new.

[dollpocalypse]

"Yup," Topher said, holding up his own cup of ice cream as evidence.

Beat.

"...you a big fan of ice cream, then?"

Topher, don't tease tiny Ben, it was mean.

[skycrawlers.livejournal.com]

"It's astral!" Ben said enthusiastically. "It doesn't last very long on a ship and the machine can't make it so I only get it on special occasions."

You're babbling, Ben.

[dollpocalypse]

Okay, it was really hard to keep a straight face when he was all tiny and babbling like that. So Topher just didn't bother.

"Gotcha," Topher said, grinning hugely. "So you know what flavor you want?"

[skycrawlers.livejournal.com]

"All of them," Ben admitted, "but I couldn't eat that much. Which is your favorite?"

[dollpocalypse]

"There's one with crushed-up chocolate chip cookies in it," Topher suggested. Eyeing Ben and assessing that he was probably not carrying much cash on him, he offered, "Want me to get it for you?"

[tri-psi-lupi.livejournal.com]

The nice thing about being older visitors who attend Fandom in the future? Your 'parents' don't care if you go off together, since they know you won't get lost.

Which meant Annika, Christiana, and Amélie Priest were sauntering into Chilly Boulder, debating who was going to get what flavor. Not that it mattered, since they'd all share anyway.

[dollpocalypse]

Oh, great. Loud girls. Who maybe Gen would think were more interesting than he was.

"Hey," Topher said in a mumble.

[tri-psi-lupi.livejournal.com]

The three stopped, turned, tilted their heads and regarded him as a child might investigate a particularly interesting bug.

"Problem, darling?" they asked in unison, "Or just afraid of the big bad wolves?"

[dollpocalypse]

...right, that was officially the creepiest thing Topher had seen in a while.

"Uh, no," he said, eyeing them oddly now. "I'm good. Thanks."