The beach, Sunday afternoon

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker and Nick had started with a sand castle, that had turned into a sand fortress, that turned into the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man rampaging through Sandtopia. Now they were trying to find sea creatures, taking photos with Parker's phone and camera.

Parker had sent one to the guys, with the caption At the beach, come find us!

[ooc: open for anyone.]

Comments

[vdistinctive]

Eliot had basically spent the weekend torn between giving Parker and Nick the space they needed to be a family and hovering to make sure Parker didn't end up alone when the kid inevitably broke her heart.

Which would be why it did not take him long to stroll casually up with Val loping along at his side, after Parker sent that text.

Not that he'd been following them discreetly or anything.

That would be wrong.

"Y'all look like you're havin' fun."

[whoisnickwhite.livejournal.com]

"So much fun," Nick said enthusiastically, looking up from a small tidepool. He held up a mollusk for Eliot to see, clutching it carefully. "They're like live rocks! You can watch the bubbles in the water when you put them down!"

[vdistinctive]

Val ran up and sprinted around Nick in a tight circle, only to get distracted and start barking at the waves. Eliot followed at a more leisurely pace. "Oh yeah?" he asked. "That sounds pretty cool."

[whoisnickwhite.livejournal.com]

"This is way cooler than hanging out around where we used to live," Nick confided, carefully putting the mollusk back in the water. "So boring. There wasn't even a park close enough to play at, there were too many heavy streets before we could get there."

[vdistinctive]

"Fandom's real nice that way," Eliot agreed. "Nice'n small, with lots of room for fun. And, uh. No cars."

Did Nick remember how he died? Eliot had always approached mortality sort of cynically -- had had to, in order to do what he did -- but thinking about Nick was throwing him. It had to have been painful, and absolutely terrifying, but the kid was so damn cheerful.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Hey man," he said, falling into step beside him for a few. "You prepared for this?"

[vdistinctive]

Eliot sighed. "No." He glanced back at Parker. "More importantly, neither is she."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"That's what I'm worried about," Hardison sighed. "She's more likely to see this as her losin' him a second time, rather than bein' happy she got to see him again."

He scrubbed his face. "Not that I blame her. I can't say I'd feel much different."

[vdistinctive]

"'Course not." Eliot looked between Parker and Nick a little whistfully. "One of us is gonna have to hide her taser."

Because he didn't want to get hit with that thing again, if/when he had to restrain her.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

As much as Hardison vastly preferred the indoors, he wasn't going to stay inside while Parker and Nick went to the beach. Spending the day with him yesterday had pretty much convinced Hardison that Nick was just a normal kid, brought back from the dead for a few days by Fandom, and in some ways that made what was coming even harder. Nick was certain that his time was limited. Parker didn't seem so keen on accepting that. So as soon as he'd gotten the text, he'd saved his progress and headed for the beach.

"Hey mama," he said, approaching them with his hands in his pockets. He and Eliot both, super casual. "You think we could get Nick to starts callin' her Megabyte?" He nodded over where Nick was playing with the puppy under Eliot's watchful eye. "Pretty sure he wouldn't be able to say no if we got everybody in on it."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"Easy," Parker said, leaning into him when he was within reach. Her hands were still occupied with her camera. "I bet he'll come up with good reasons why she's Megabyte and not Val, too. He's really smart. And he talks a lot."

She'd kind of half-forgotten both of those. Known them, but not how much he'd talk. Or how it was about everything.

"He could be that Science Guy on TV. He knows a lot more about animals than I remember."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"That's a sign of bright kids," Hardison said with a small laugh. "How many times's Eliot complained about how much I talk? There's just so much goin' on in your brain, it's hard not to let it spill over."

He glanced over at Nick again and smiled. "I like him. 'Specially the part where he threatened me if I didn't appreciate you enough." Bare seconds after being enthused about his robot. Hardison could appreciate those priorities.

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Snickers bubbled up from Parker, and she grinned, feeling like her face hurt. "He came up with this long curse to scare Rita with, once, when she was yelling at us. I think we were being too loud. Something about marrying camels and having children with butt-faces and smelling like monkey-poo." She smiled at Hardison. "I'm so glad you get to meet him. He likes you guys. Maybe he likes Megabyte better, but just 'cause she's a dog."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"I'd'a liked dogs better 'n a buncha adults I don't know when I was his age too," Hardison said. He didn't mind coming in third behind a dog. "I'm glad we got to meet him, too. He's a good kid."

He paused, trying to think of how to put this delicately. It hurt to know that he was about to kill that smile. "I know it's gonna be hard to say goodbye to him."

[sharp_as_knives]

They'd spent the morning in the park; Mischa had squealed at the flamingos and run through the grass. The afternoon was for the beach; sand and water and sun, and if it were a touch chilly when the wind picked up, it wasn't as though Mischa would catch cold.

Hannibal took note of the others on the beach and nodded in their direction, but most of his attention was on his sister.

[whoisnickwhite.livejournal.com]

Nick saw the girl a little ways away, and the older guy with her. He waved at her and called, "Didja see the sand dollars? There's tons of them!"

[sharpened_him]

Mischa glanced over at the boy and looked to Hannibal curiously.

[sharp_as_knives]

He nodded and smiled at her, giving her a little nudge in Nick's direction. "She doesn't speak English," he explained. "Her name is Mischa. I'm Hannibal."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Nick grinned, and Parker drifted closer as he waved the little girl closer.

"That's my brother Nick." She stole a look at him, then at at the little girl. "He's almost seven."

[vdistinctive]

Eliot looked over, took in Hannibal and the little girl with him, then looked back towards Nick and Parker. He nodded once to Hannibal and offered the girl a small smile, but otherwise decided to let them be. He knew a family when he saw one, and didn't want to interrupt the limited time they had left together.

Val, on the other hand? Yeah, she just saw TINY PERSON! and barked happily and dashed over to say hi and see if the tiny person might have a stick to throw.

Eliot rubbed his forehead and made a mental note to work on Val's self-control.

[sharpened_him]

Mischa blinked at the dog and eyed her warily for a moment, then laughed when she saw she meant to play. "Labas, šunytis!" She ran up to hug Val with small-child enthusiasm and over-exaggerated care.

[vdistinctive]

Eliot had followed after Val, ready to pull her away if the kid seemed upset by her at all. "Sorry," he said to Hannibal. "She likes kids." Which he hadn't even known until last weekend. "Jos vardas yra Val," he told Mischa.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Well, once Eliot and the dog had made their way over, Hardison hadn't seen any reason to linger back. Especially since he seemed known by the crew. "Hey man," he said, nodding at Hannibal before offering a smile down at the little girl. "Uhh, labas?" He tried to mimic the word he'd heard her use on Val. He had a good ear and it wasn't a difficult word, so he likely wasn't too far off.

Man. There were way too many kids here this weekend. Sure, he only knew of two, but that was still two too many.

[sharpened_him]

"Labas!" Mischa answered, grinning up at him.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Hello." Hannibal nodded back and held out his hand. "You must be Hardison; Ada spoke highly of you, if not of your ability to feed yourself."