jgob; sunday afternoon

[flickofthewrist]

Yesterday hadn't gone very well. For Flick's first (and possibly last since hew as graduating) invasion of alternate universe kid, he'd made his storm out and her mother right behind her. So, in some morbid part of him, he considered that success. Most other parts of him were just sad and confused.

He'd gotten out of the dorms as soon as possible and was now sitting in JGOB with a cold drink and a muffin. It was the brunch of a troubled man. Or it was the brunch of a man who was hungry and just picked something at random. He was sitting back against his chair, eyes on the table and fingers tapping idly against his thigh.

[Flick's here for his kid but the post is also open!]

Comments

[shadowtomboy.livejournal.com]

Isabelle had said this was one of the places in town Flick might be found. And Anna was good at finding people.

So that was the explanation for the way she just showed up out of the blue and sat down across the table from him without saying a word.

[flickofthewrist]

Flick glanced at her sudden appearance and quirked his eyebrow slightly.

"Afternoon," he said mildly.

[shadowtomboy.livejournal.com]

Anna's lips were pursed.

Until she spoke, that was. "Do you not want me to happen?" she asked, her brow furrowed and her gaze piercing.

[flickofthewrist]

Flick stared at her for a long time.

And then he finally said, sharply, "What? Where did that even come from?"

[shadowtomboy.livejournal.com]

"You were so insistent that you couldn't ever Ascend," she said, unfazed by the sharpness in his tone. She was used to speaking her mind. "How is that supposed to make me feel?"

[flickofthewrist]

"That doesn't mean that I don't want you to happen," he told her, shaking his head. "It means that I don't think Shadowhunters would want me, Anna. Your grandmother hates me, I've never met your grandfather but I'm sure he hates me, and Isabelle has consistently told me I'm not a part of that life. Do you see how it could be hard for me to understand that changing?"

[shadowtomboy.livejournal.com]

"I'm here, they wanted you!"

And she was the kid here. She got to have her irrational hurt. Yes, he was barely older than she was, here, but it was hard to remember that beyond the most rational, logical level.

"You were top of your class at the Academy, Mom always says! They wanted you. They want you."

[flickofthewrist]

Flick thinned his lips to keep from answering instinctively, to stop any argument that wanted to slip out. He had to think first.

"I do want you to exist," he told her after a moment, quieter now. "I do. I want that with your mother. This is all very new to me. Unexpected. This is the first I've heard that that could even happen, Anna. Your mother's never really told me about it before."

[shadowtomboy.livejournal.com]

Anna leaned back in her chair. She was still pursing her lips, but at least she was slightly less inclined to yell at him.

"Well, I guess she didn't know," she said gruffly, glancing away. "That was still shitty."

[flickofthewrist]

"I was surprised! And I've been preparing for a future of nothingness, Anna," Flick told her, sighing. "There's still a possibility that what happened to the me you're used to might not happen to me. I am sorry for my reaction to that news, Anna. I was surprised."

[shadowtomboy.livejournal.com]

"You're never nothing, Dad."

Please don't pass your issues on to her. She had her own to worry about.

[flickofthewrist]

"Can we talk about something else besides me?" he asked, fidgeting nervously. "Tell me about your mom and dad. I mean, I know I am your dad but I mean the ones you're used to. Tell me about your life."

[shadowtomboy.livejournal.com]

"Do you promise not to flip out over anything?" Anna asked. She didn't have anything to tell him that she thought would upset him, but then, look how yesterday had gone.

[flickofthewrist]

"I'm not going to flip out," he told her, shaking his head. "I'm interested. I never thought I'd have a kid let alone with Isabelle let alone a Shadowhunter. I'm interested."

[shadowtomboy.livejournal.com]

Anna seemed to relax a little. A little, though. Not fully. She had some walls up right now. "Well, we live at the Institute," she said. "I think they're priming Mom to run it some day."

[flickofthewrist]

"They're gonna give Isabelle power?" he asked, mostly joking. "She'll love that, I bet. Doesn't surprise me considering her parents are running it right now. More her mother than her father."

[shadowtomboy.livejournal.com]

"Grandfather moved to Idris long before I was born," Anna shrugged. It had actually more or less happened in this time, not that she knew that. "We don't see him a lot."

[flickofthewrist]

"I've never met him," Flick told her so that made sense. "I don't know if I ever really will either. Doesn't seem like he and your grandmother stayed close after everything."

[shadowtomboy.livejournal.com]

Anna shrugged again. "I guess not." But that had always been true, as far back as she could remember, so it was just the way things were with them. "He's not your biggest fan, either."

There'd been a punching incident.

[flickofthewrist]

"Not surprised since I've made such a good impression on your grandmother already," he said, voice dry. "What'd I do to him?"

[shadowtomboy.livejournal.com]

"You punched him."

It was a family tale that lived in infamy, really.

[flickofthewrist]

Flick's eyes widened. "What?" he asked, laughing at that bit of news. "I hit Isabelle's father? And I lived to tell the story?"

[shadowtomboy.livejournal.com]

Anna didn't exactly smirk, but there was still a little upwards tilt to one of the corners of her mouth. "He probably wanted to strike you down," she guessed. "But I think other people were impressed."

[flickofthewrist]

"Huh," Flick said, sitting back and looking pleased. "Any reason why I'd choose to hit Isabelle's father? I doubt I was trying to impress Isabelle or something."

[shadowtomboy.livejournal.com]

"No one's ever told me why," Anna replied, with another expressive shrug. "Must've been something pretty important to you, though."

[flickofthewrist]

Flick snickered again.

"How about me and your mother? We still get along?" They hadn't gone the way of Isabelle's mother and father, had they?

[shadowtomboy.livejournal.com]

Not even close.

"Most of the time," Anna said. "It's mostly cultural differences when you fight. There's still a lot of mundie left in you, Dad."

[flickofthewrist]

"Yeah, I figured," he said, leaning against the table. "Has that made it hard for you? Are you all right?"

[shadowtomboy.livejournal.com]

Anna snorted, and for a moment, her mother was in her features as plain as day.

"Please, I'm great," she said. "Especially now that Mom's stopped giving me grief about the hair."

[flickofthewrist]

"What didn't she like about your hair?" he asked, tilting his head. "I think it looks good. You're beautiful."

She looked like a miniature version of her mother to him.

[shadowtomboy.livejournal.com]

Anna reached up and brushed her fingers through her bangs.

"She liked it better when it was long."

[flickofthewrist]

"Of course she did," he said, snickering a little at that. "Your hair's fine. Your mother's just finicky. You're a beautiful young woman."

And he meant that.

"But, I've got a question. I can't stop being curious about it."

[shadowtomboy.livejournal.com]

"Well, shoot."

She wasn't afraid of questions.

[flickofthewrist]

"How'd you end up with Lightwood as a last name and not mine?" he wondered. "Brennan not good enough for you?"

He was teasing.

[shadowtomboy.livejournal.com]

"Please, Dad, who ever heard of a Shadowhunter with a name like Brennan?" Anna retorted, raising her eyebrows a little. "It's a fine name, but it's not the right kind of fine."

[flickofthewrist]

"The right kind of fine?" he repeated, making a face. "What do Shadowhunters have against my last name? Please tell me I don't end up Jon Lightwood in the future."

[shadowtomboy.livejournal.com]

"I'm not going to tell you a damn thing if you're that disrespectful of my culture," Anna retorted, mostly teasing. "There's nothing wrong with being a Lightwood."

[flickofthewrist]

"You're right, there isn't," he agreed with a shake of his head and a laugh. "I just didn't want to lose all connections to my prior life."

But then he looked at her and smiled. Thoughtful and wistful all at once.

"Guess I didn't though. Judith, huh? It's a good name."

[shadowtomboy.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," she said, shrugging a shoulder. "Maxine, too."

They'd gone very depressing with their choice of middle names.

[flickofthewrist]

"Sorry you couldn't ever meet either of them," he said quietly. "They would have spoiled you, I'm sure."

[shadowtomboy.livejournal.com]

Anna twisted her lips a little in lieu of a shrug. She hadn't ever met the great-grand-aunt (or whatever the term was) who her first name came from. They were all just distant people to her.

"Yeah," she said anyway. "I'm sorry you had to name me after them, too."

Because they probably wouldn't have if their little brothers had lived to see her.

[flickofthewrist]

"I want you to happen," he told her again, quieter now. "I really absolutely do. You're beautiful and smart and that's something I never thought would come from me. I want you to exist."

He nodded.

"I don't know how it'll happen in this world, for me, but I'm open to anything. I'll do anything to make you happen. I promise."

[shadowtomboy.livejournal.com]

Anna tilted her head to the side, and reached out over the table to take his hand and give it a squeeze.

"Okay, Dad," she said. "But right now, can you buy me a bagel? I'm starving."

[flickofthewrist]

"What, you can't buy your own food?" he joked, getting to his feet and pulling his wallet out. As he walked towards the counter, he shook his head and said, "Kids these days."

She'd get her bagel though.

And probably a cookie too.