Ult. ben Grimm / Lake Shore

[unbreakableben]

[OOM: Ben phones home after visiting DenmarkWhen Milliways found him again he took the opportunity to spend some time thinking. He wasn't in a mood for large crowds so he headed outback and found a rock to sit on by the lake. He's sulking, he totally knows this but damnit he deserves a sulk. He's also seeing if he can skip rocks the size of small

Comments

[guppy_sandhu]

"Rocks sink in water." a small child says, helpfully, from nearby.

[unbreakableben]

He starts at the voice and turns surprised that the kid isn't scared or screaming.

"Yeah," he agrees, "but if you throw them right they can skip off the top of the water a few times first."

[guppy_sandhu]

Fry thinks about this for a moment.

"How?"

He doesn't appear at all scared. Ben might notice that Guppy is nearby, holding a baby girl in a standing position by her hands, and keeping an eye on his son.

[unbreakableben]

Ben looks to the ground for a flat rock as an excuse to check to be sure they aren't too close to the edge of the water. As he looks back up, having found a rock, he nods a hello to Guppy.

"It works better with really flat rocks. See the rock kind of bounces off the top of the water. The rocks I was using before weren't really good for it but this one...just watch," he says and flips the rock out across the lake. It continues to skip until it goes out of sight. "It's kind of like throwing a Frisbee."

[guppy_sandhu]

Fry watches, interested, then picks up a rock and throws it. It goes plop.

"Ben it sinked!"

[unbreakableben]

"I think you need to practice throwing regular like first," Ben says reaching for another rock and handing it over," try hitting that rock over there."

It doesn't occur to Ben that teaching a kid to throw rocks might be a bad idea.

[guppy_sandhu]

Fry picks up a rock and throws.

Unfortunately his aim is sufficiently bad that he hits his little sister in the face. Coral begins to bawl loudly.

"Fry, be careful!" Guppy says, scooping up the little girl.

[unbreakableben]

"Oh my God!" Ben says panicked. "That was totally my fault. Is she okay?"

Ben would never admit it but with the rollar coaster his emotions are right now he's close to tears himself.

[OOC-Insert properly mortified icon of Ben please.]

[guppy_sandhu]

Fry curls up in a ball with his hands over his ears and rocks himself. Coral is Loud.

"Fortunately, he can't throw very hard." Guppy says, getting out a tissue. "Just got a little nosebleed here..."

He nods at Ben. "Don't worry about it. Kids are unpredictable, I make mistakes too."

[unbreakableben]

Ben holds his hand near Fry but doesn't touch him and says, in as soothing a voice as he can manage, "Hey little guy, I'm sorry it was my fault. Friends?"

Looks like someone read that leaflet Guppy gave him.

[guppy_sandhu]

Fry isn't looking at the hand initially, but when Coral starts to quieten he peeps out. He looks at Ben and nods.

"You didn't like the noise Coral made, huh?" Guppy says to Fry, mostly to clarify things with Ben.

"Yes, it's a bad noise." Fry says. "Like the washy machine."

[unbreakableben]

Ben tries another tack by putting his finger where his ears would be as if pluggin his ears and making what he hopes will be a funny face.

[guppy_sandhu]

Fry sits up and peers at him.

"Where's your ears?" he asks.

[unbreakableben]

This gets an honest chuckle from Ben. The logic of kids can accomplish miracles.

"They're under the rocks," he says tapping where the external ear would normally be, "or at least that's what my friend Susan thinks. She's super smart so I believe her."

[guppy_sandhu]

"Daddy says the outside bits of ears help the sound go in." Fry says.

[unbreakableben]

"That's true. Susan is still trying to figure out how I can still hear so well since I don't have them anymore." As he talks Ben is looking over to see how the other kid is doing.