Just Another Not Quiet Day at Home...

[middle_amazon]

The Good News: Lian Harper is actually getting the hang of this "public school," thing. She's even discovered school band and has taken a serious interest in it.

The Bad News: She beginning to learn the saxophone and there isn't enough soundproofing in the world for this, much less out in the garage.

Comments

[arsenal_arrow]

"Awww, GEEZ! How long is this going to go on?"

Roy almost has the urge to go upstairs and praise his daughter until her face turns blue, just so the noise will stop. He's happy she's taken an interest in the arts, but couldn't it be a quieter art?

"At least it's not the drums!"

[middle_amazon]

"Until she gets good or gets bored." At the drum reference, she just smiles at him lovingly and very knowingly - not saying a word.

[arsenal_arrow]

This is Lian. She will get good, eventually, but she won't get bored. That means Roy simply gets to tough it out. To be honest, the noise is irritating, but he can't complain too much.

He closes the distance with his wife-- and the second door dividing the garage from the back door, and the freezer pantry-- and decides to take advantage of Lian's practice. He gives Donna a 'testing' kiss. "We get quiet time. AND she's not getting arrested, in trouble, or doing anything I did."

[middle_amazon]

"As quiet as it gets." The testing kiss is received very receptively. "You did a lot of things right. Some wrong doesn't change that."

[arsenal_arrow]

"A lot of 'right'," he agrees, smiling. "But the wrong? Phenomenal, at its best."

[middle_amazon]

Her fingers dance across his cheek. "I liked some of your mistakes. The candy apple red hair for that first Great Frog performance was kinda cute."

[arsenal_arrow]

"Really?" He'll remember that. That outfit wouldn't be hard to reproduce, and well, for the time, it was pretty snazzy; even if it screamed 'rebel rock'.

"But the hair is about a '2'. There's engaging Slade in hand-to-hand, shooting you... things like that."

[middle_amazon]

She winces, but it's not him. It's an incredibly bad note Lian just managed. "You know what I learned from the time you shot me?" she asks seriously.

[arsenal_arrow]

Yes, he feels rotten about that, which is why he has to make the joke. "'Duck next time'?"

[middle_amazon]

"That you and Lian were worth any fear I had to overcome." Her smile is a little fragile. "And that you'd -"

That noise was a sax. She's immediately alert.

[angel_in_a_box]

The sky turns pink-purple and the wind picks up.

[arsenal_arrow]

"LIAN!!"

Roy's grabbing the smaller crossbow from the garage wall as he goes by, and loading bolts on the way to his daughter. The first sight is of the sky outside through the kitchen window, but he doesn't stop. He'll find out what it is once he gets to Lian.

[middle_amazon]

She grabs her mothers' blade and the shorter sword she received from Dick as a wedding present and heads for the front door.

[etai_yazi]

At her Daddy's call, Lian switched the sax onto her back, kicked closed and latched the case with her foot, and partially disassembled the music stand. She was glad she got the slightly flimsier stand since it did fold down into a something she could throw easily. She was already near the arrow making area. "I'm okay!"

[angel_in_a_box]

The front doors blow open reveal an old foe. "Tsk, Tsk..."

[arsenal_arrow]

@#$^%!!!!

Doesn't this lady ever get tired of this act? Roy fires as he advances, not dissuaded in the least.

"Get the HELL out of my house, you dysfunctional bitch!" he screams. No, he's not really paying attention to if the kid hears him. "Your little fucked up time-game doesn't work on me, REMEMBER?"