fandomtownies | The Playground in the Park, Thursday Afternoon

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The Playground in the Park, Thursday Afternoon

Yesterday, Karla had made a very important promise. She'd promised Val a day at the playground and there was no way she was going to renege on that. Thus, Thursday afternoon found Kayla swinging on the swings in the park, while Karla sat on a nearby bench, holding Nommy, and pushing Kayla's swing with Craft. At her feet was a sizable picnic basket, filled with sandwiches, juice in both sippy cups and bottles, Kayla's 'spinkles,' a small island's worth of bananas, and even a bit of ice cream wrapped in cooling spells. Karla had packed extra just in case; she figured Ender had probably gotten all the sandwiches he needed during his class (yes, she remembered), but there was always the chance that Ben would join them. Or other people would wander by. It wasn't like Fandom lacked for hungry kids of varying ages even on normal weekends.

"Mommy, push me higher!" Kayla called. "Pleeeeeeeeease!"

"Nope!" Karla called back, nets of Craft still invisibly hovering in the air to either side of Kayla's swing. "You tried to jump off the swing last time. Now you have to stay low until I'm sure you won't do it again."

"But I was gonna flyyyyy!" Kayla's tiny wings fluttered on her back, trying to increase the height of the swing.

"And this is why the answer is still no," Karla said with a sigh. Looking down at the infant in her arms, Karla shook her head. "I can't wait till your wings come in and I get to chase both of you," she told her sleeping son. "Maybe I'll just borrow an entire herd of Scelties from Khary and let them take turns sitting on you till you're grown."

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"And behold," Ender called - and though he was looking right at Karla as he walked towards her, he was actually talking to Val - "The playground."

"Play!" Val proclaimed, dashing forward. "K'yla!"

"Val!" Kayla cried. "Mama, down! Down, Mama!" She had to go greet her friend, who was much less annoying than her new little brother.

Sadly for Kayla, her mother still wasn't letting her just leap out of the swing. She had to wait for Karla to come over and help her down a process again, slightly impeded by said new little brother.

"There," she said, placing Kayla on the ground to scamper over to Val. "You're free. Run like the wind, munchkin."

To Ender, she asked, "How was your first class, darling?"

"Cosy and quiet," Ender said, "And interesting, considering I'm teaching my own partner's mother right now."

Val let out a shriek of delight and barreled towards Kayla for a hug. A slightly clumsy one.

"I taught her about poisons last semester," Karla said. "I feel you."

Because how do you say, 'Hi, I taught your mom to be a more efficient assassin'? Other than hoping a shrug and a 'It's Fandom?' does the trick.

"Val! Val!" It was going to be a toddler collision. Karla was almost tempted to take bets on who would remain standing.

All of Ender's money was on Kayla. Val wrote a lot of checks she couldn't actually cash yet, so he was peering past Karla at her as they spoke.

"I spend a lot of time biting my tongue," he said, and then he was moving. "Val, honey, careful--"

A dark gray weave of Craft sprang into life behind Val, meant to keep her upright if she started to fall. It appeared before Karla even had a chance to check with Ender to see if it would be appreciated--habit.

"Kayla--!" she called, hoping that between the two of them, they could prevent a collison. "Only run at people who are bigger than you, remember?"

Since Darkness knows that asking her not to fling herself at people was not feasible.

Val kept going. "Slow!" Ender called. "You're both running, so you'll hit harder--"

At least in the end, Val slowed down a little bit before attempting to grab hold of Kayla very, very firmly?

Kayla squealed, more with delight than fear as the force of the impact spun them around and around. Karla let her own hands drop, Craft falling away from her fingertips. The girls were fine, they didn't need her direct interference.

"Somehow, I doubt this physics lesson will stick," Karla said wryly.

"Maybe the next one," Ender said, just as wry. "Or the one after that."

"Kayyyyla!" Val screeched happily. "Gots Kayla!"

"Always were the optimist," Karla teased.

"Val! Val! Val, you gotsta come to the swings!" Kayla urged, her arms around Val half in a hug and half in an attempt to drag her bodily to the swingset. "Gotta go high."

"Kay kay kay," Val chanted. Maybe it was Kayla's name. Maybe it was 'okay'. Maybe it was both. Who knew? She immediately trundled along, still a little unsteady on her legs, hand outstretched for the swing.

"I should probably watch this a little more closely," Ender sighed, walking towards the swingset.

"Yes," Karla agreed. Fervently. "And make sure Val knows not to listen to Kayla's ideas about swinging." There was a pointed look to her daughter, though it was entirely wasted, sigh. "We wait for the swing to stop before getting off."

We certainly didn't try to jump. And extra not when the swing was very high!

"I keep hoping her Wiggin blood calms the Skywalker end," Ender said ruefully. He took a hold of the ropes of the swing. "C'mon, Val. Get on."

"Wanna go high!" Val giggled.

"The Worthington blood didn't do much to mitigate the DiGlacia," Karla mumbled. "Though Warren has more of the idiot daredevil in him than he really wants to admit."

Karla settled Nommy into his stroller and helped Kayla clamber on as well. She was chattering to Val a mile a minute, doing her best to relate the entire history of fun she'd had on swings.

"And what happens if we try to jump off again?" Karla prompted.

"Not 'llowed to go swingin' till I'm twenty," Kayla answered.

"Damn right."

"I know," Ender said, "I remember when Ben played Angry Birds with him."

He smiled down at Val. "No jumping for you either," he said, "It's a long fall and you might get hurt."

He gave the swing a little push.

Kenzi was wandering by the park on her way to get ice cream, but stopped when she saw Karla, Kayla, and small person.

"You had another one?!"

Kenzi might be various people's future mommy, but right now that still felt unimaginably far away.

"Oh no," Karla said with heavy irony. "This one, I just decided it would be more fun to kidnap."

Kenzi flopped down next to her, eyeing the toddling Kayla, and then the bundle. "You are so crazed. Does it have a name yet?" She tilted her head and added, "Your daughter is getting cute."

Hellos and how are yous were for other people, obviously.

"No," Karla said, shaking her head regretfully. "My people have a tradition of not naming our children until after they start developing a personality. Karla, in the language of my people, means She of meek and dainty demeanor."

If hellos and how are yous were for other people, snark and teasing was definitely for them.

"Oh good! So I can still suggest Squishy? And Chubby-face? And Pinkie?" Kenzi grinned, and didn't reach for the kid, then added, "Unless he takes after you, and then you should name him Karl. Karl Junior. Karls Junior. For his home away from home, too."

"He's kind of whiny and likes to snatch at things, so we were actually tossing around Kenzi II," Karla said, laughing, and pushed away the blanket so she could show him off to Kenzi. "Though, for now, we're calling him Nommy, because look at those cheeks!"

"That is ridiculous. Are you sure he's real? He isn't going to turn into a vulture or dinosaur, because this cute cute cute form is just a mask?" Kenzi held one finger out, in case he was in a grabby mood. "How's Kayla doing with being a big sister?"

"Well, I've made a couple of bird jokes just to annoy Warren, but otherwise we're pretty sure he's a person." Not exactly human, not with his father's mutant genes, but generally person-shaped.

Nommy grabbed for Kenzi's finger but missed; at only two months, his hand-eye coordination was still pretty terrible.

"Kayla is...adjusting," Karla said with a wry smile and a sigh. "She no longer cries every time she wants to get into my lap and the baby's there. That's a step in the right direction."

"Heh." Kenzi glanced over at Kayla, and grinned. "She's what, two? Three? Such a great age to have to learn sharing. Poor kid." She rubbed her finger along Nommy's grip, so he could figure out that clutching thing again. "I always half-expect they won't be real, it's just some weird weekend, and I should be looking around for kids showing up to mess with my head."

"Almost two and a half," Karla said, giving Kayla a wistful smile. How had she gotten so old already? "And, believe me, if you lived with the reality of them day to day, you'd end up believing in them. If it'll help, I'll let you change Nommy's next diaper to help really sell the reality?"

"No, really, that's okay, I'll suffer with an inadequate imagination," Kenzi said hastily. She booped his little button nose. Because she had to! "How's everything else in Magic World?"

"Really good, actually," Karla said. "There hasn't been an attack on my life since Kayla was a baby and the aristos don't necessarily like all the social changes I'm implementing, but the bitching has died down to a minimum. It's pretty nice, I must say. How goes the island? We're in space now. I noticed that."

"Ugh, yes. Invasion. Of really creepy-as-hell insect aliens, they should all go die." Kenzi made a face. "The Brood? Kitty could give you more details, they're from her reality. They got Bo--" Things always got Bo. "--but she mostly resisted the urge to grow scales and take over the world, so. I'm not really sure why the island's in space now, though."

Nobody had really explained that to her, so she just assumed it was the Island's own idea.

Well, Karla wasn't about to tell her she was wrong. It being the island's own idea seemed perfectly in keeping with what she knew of Fandom.

"This is why I avoid the island around my birthday," Karla announced. "Unless I've gotten the all-clear that the springtime disaster's already happened."

"Are there any little girls here who like fruit smoothies?" Ben called out.

"Wiv spinkles?" Kayla was very particular about her food and beverage offerings.

"I do, I do!" Karla said, waving her hand. "No sprinkles need apply for mine!"

"They even had your special sprinkles, Kayla," Ben said, holding her strawberry and wheatgerm smoothie out.

Kayla gasped and clasped her hands together eyes wide. They had? Just for her? "Mine! Mine!" she demanded. "Smoothie for Kaywa!"

"What do we say," Karla intoned, pretty certain she could be replaced by a recording of specific phrases without anybody noticing.

"But it is for me!" Kayla pointed out with irrefutable logic.

"But we still have to use our manners anyway," Karla told her. "Or the next time, maybe it won't be."

"Oh," Kayla said, mulling this over. "Pwease can I have it?" she asked Ben, giving him a little curtsy. In her overalls.

Ben's smile widened. "Of course you can, sweetheart," he said, handing it over.

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" Kayla screeched, holding the smoothie in both hands and taking a sip.

"What do--"

"Yay, thank you, I love you!" Kayla said, giving Ben a smile that somehow already had fruit smeared over it. Even though there was a straw. It was like a kind of special Craft that existed only to get her filthy.

"It's pure cupboard love," Karla informed him. "Which is fine, because I'm sure that's all she feels for me, too."

Thus proving the apple didn't fall that far from the maternal tree.

"I'm not above buying the love of small blondes," Ben said, holding another smoothie out for Karla.

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The Playground in the Park, Thursday Afternoon

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