It's Kiddie Day Care Time

[popparazzi]

Who: popparazzi and YOU
When: some time after this post
Where: The safe house section of Out Post #1.
Format: Whichever you prefer~
What: Maes invades the outpost with children. He probably ends up on Byakuya's naughty list.
Warnings: CHILDREN. MAES BEING A DADDY. OTHERS TO BE ADDED AS NEEDED. Tag if you join! ♥

Comments

[firebornfidelis]

Riza lead the way into the room, a dog and a little boy in tow. She liked Miss Shirley a lot, but she felt bad that she and all the other children had been creating a ruckus in the clinic for so long that she thought it might be nice to at least remove herself and Spencer from the mess.

"He's nice," she explained to Spencer, meaning Hughes. "He helped me get out of that place full of guns where I woke up. And I think he's friends with somebody really really smart and trustworthy, so he must be good." Because in her eyes, anyone that was friends with Roy Mustang was beyond reproach.

[threedoctorates]

Spencer nods, although his expression is guarded. Being on the same intellectual level as most adults made them hard to trust, especially since he was still so used to having watch what he said or did, as to not attract attention to either himself or his mother. Graduating at twelve had drawn enough attention, and he was thankful that this oversight on his part hadn't drawn the attention of anyone onto his mother and his living situation.

It didn't matter that apparently his mother wasn't there right now. He was still stuck in this mindset.

Even though, however, Riza was his friend, his only friend here in this strange world, really, and he wanted to trust her. So he nodded in agreement. "A friend of your's?" He asked, wondering who had garnered her trust do deeply.

[firebornfidelis]

Riza had no illusions, even at the age of eleven, of being anywhere near the smartest person in her sphere of acquaintance. She did very well in school, but there was always her father and Mister Mustang who were much smarter than she was. But she didn't really resent people who were smarter than her. In fact, she found it rather comforting.

She nods at his question. "Mister Hughes is friends with Mister Mustang. After my father, Mister Mustang is the smartest person I ever knew. He's my father's student. Even back home where he's only fourteen, he knows more than all my teachers and everybody in the village. But he's also really really nice. He is the nicest person I ever met. He's all grown up here, though, which is pretty weird. He's almost as tall as my father, now

[threedoctorates]

He was never one to fit in. As a matter of fact, he had spent most of his childhood alone, with only his mother and books as his closest companions. He had no doubts that when he started college, it would be much of the same way there as well.

"He's older then the last time you saw him?"

Did Anatole do stuff like this often? Would he run into someone he knew only not? How strange.

[firebornfidelis]

"Yeah. A lot older. He was fourteen back home and he's completely grown up now. He's probably at least twenty-five."

She walked around the outside of the room until she found a spot she liked and unrolled one of the sleeping bags. She was ready to go to bed yet, but in a situation like this, she thought it best to stake out her territory early. Otherwise there might not be enough space for all three of them together.

"He wasn't here last time I came. I didn't know anybody here last time."

[threedoctorates]

Spencer followed her, laying the sleeping bag he had managed to get from the man in the blue uniform and unfolding it next to Riza's.

"... I don't think I know anyone here. I don't really know anyone at home either, besides Mom, so it's not like I'm not used to it."

[firebornfidelis]

"Do you not have a lot of friends at home?" She sat herself down on the sleeping bag, facing him. Hayate lay down beside her, resting his head on her knee. "I don't either. It's mostly just me and Father, and his student Mister Mustang who lives with us." She looks down at Hayate and pets his head. "The kids at school think my father is weird, so I guess they think I'm weird too."

[threedoctorates]

"... I know the other kids at school think I'm weird. They told me so. I was the youngest kid in my graduating class. A lot of the others didn't want to talk to me because I was smaller and younger then them." Spencer pulled his knees to his chest, contemplating. "It's been Mom and me for a couple of years now, after Dad packed his bags and left."

Does he sound a little hurt by that? Because he is. He doesn't think he'll ever forgive William Reid for walking out on his family.

"Mom's been sick for a while now too, so other then school, I take care of her too."

[firebornfidelis]

"They don't like you just because you're young? That seems kind of silly." The practical side of Riza Hawkeye had long since developed by the time she had turned eleven. She frowned slightly at the idea that his father had just left but he was clearly still a little upset about it, so she didn't want to push him to talk about it. But in her mind, that was definitely not the sort of thing a father should do. He might be distant and busy a lot of the time, but her father had never abandoned her.

"I take care of my father, too. I do most of the cooking and cleaning and everything. But he's not sick all the time, although sometimes he get's a bad cough because our house is drafty." Or so he says. She's not convinced that he isn't softening some other truth for her benefit.

[threedoctorates]

"I think it's because I'm in an environment where everyone is six years older then me. I'm supposed to be going to college in the fall, where I'll still be younger then everyone, but I'm hoping that I'll be among people who are my intellectual equals." Because they wouldn't mock him for being smart. Or for knowing what he does.

"Mom tried to convince him to take me with him, but he wouldn't do it. He said he was weak." Spencer shrugged a shoulder, because to him, that didn't make much sense. "Her mind doesn't work like everyone else's. Sometimes she sees things that aren't here. Or hears things. A lot of times I have to be careful, because she might be having an episode."

[firebornfidelis]

"College? Aren't you too young to go to college?" She blinked at him. "You must be really really smart. I bet you could be an alchemist. My father says only the smartest people can really do that right." And sometimes she did wonder if the reason he had never offered to teach her was because he didn't think she was smart enough. Not that it really mattered, since she didn't want to study it anyway. Each time she had considered it, she remembered what her father's face looked like when he was bent over his books in the most intense of research. He looked like a demon, a man possessed, and she didn't want to be like that. It was scary.

She tilted her head. "Weak? What does that mean? Is he sick a lot or something?" She reached down to pet Hayate on the head. "What's an episode?"

[threedoctorates]

"An alchemist?" Spencer is confused, he's never heard of that phrase outside of books and turning lead into gold. Riza sounds so serious when she says it. "Well... I don't believe that intelligence can be quantified."

"... I guess 'cause he couldn't take care of me or mom? I dunno. Mom just said he was weak and he agreed with her." Spencer looks a little uncomfortable. "She's... ill. Her mind. She doesn't think like everyone else. Sometimes she doesn't even realize that I'm there... or if I'm missing."

[firebornfidelis]

"Yeah. My father is one, and he's teaching Mr Mustang, too. Only I guess the Mr Mustang here is already an alchemist." She looks down at Hayate again, not guiltily but... somehow quiet. "Maybe you can't tell just how smart someone is, but you can tell if they're stupid without having to measure it."

"Ill? Isn't there any way to make her better?" She tilts her head slightly, thoughtful. "My father never notices me right away, either, but he only has a cough sometimes. It's usually because he's doing research or something." But she can see that Spencer doesn't really like talking about this, so she'll change the subject a little. "Do you know any good games we could play? We don't have to go to sleep yet."

[threedoctorates]

Spencer frowns. He has a feeling that she's saying something without actually saying it. "... just because someone isn't good at one thing, doesn't mean that they wouldn't be good at another. Sports and gym class weren't my best."

"Well, there are medications she can take, but she normally doesn't want to." Spencer watches his new friend for a moment, "Has your father seen anyone for his cough?"

".... I know a few card games." He grew up in Las Vegas, after all, the home of gambling and casinos.

[firebornfidelis]

"I'm not really good at those things either. They keep saying I'm small for my age. I don't like that stuff anyway." Besides, no one ever wanted to pick the girl from the big old house with the creepy alchemist hermit father for their teams. Maybe they were really just afraid that she did know alchemy and that she'd turn them into chimeras if they let her play. They were stupid anyway, and she was happier not playing and just sitting on the sidelines with her book.

"She doesn't want to take the stuff that could make her better?" And at his question she shakes her head a bit. "He says he doesn't have time for doctors and stuff. So I just make him tea."

She looks over her shoulder at the table of food and games and things. "Card games? Do you think they have cards here?"

[threedoctorates]

"I don't either. I was always much more content with a good book." Spencer said, suddenly happy although sad to realize that he wasn't alone in his world of awkwardness. It made him feel slightly better.

"I have a hard enough time trying to convince her to get out of bed." He nods in response to Riza's answer. "I usually take care of everything around the house when I'm not in school."

Spencer turns his head to see where she's looking, "Maybe. I can check." And he gets up to go look.