The Villa Is Open

[shipwreck_light]

Zephyr had a plan. "We are gonna make you the best electric milkshake that ever was!"

"Or will be!" Pip joined in, clapping her hands over her head as she danced along before him and Roa and generally got in the way of where they were trying to walk.

This gave Zephyr plenty of excuse to pause at the end of the hall and make himself a sweeping gesture. "In the historya... ah..." one that should have ended with him banging his hand on the wall.

Except for the part where the applicable wall had disappeared and not in the usual behold the busted drywall kind of way. It was just gone. Likewise, the hallway and the entirety of Sky Plaza.

Zephyr stood on some low, sweeping stone steps. That happened to be outside, while just a moment before been /inside/ and headed to the kitchen. "OK, what the hell?"

Roa took in the sudden sky all golden up the flanks of the villa before them and held her finger to her lips in curiosity. "I don't know, actually." Then, she attempted to walk down the way they had come. This got her over the steps and almost to the spray from the fountain in the drive before it became quite apparent merely turning around wasn't going to accomplish much besides dampening her shoes. Back up she went. "This *looks* like where they held the last Court of the Manor."

"You dunno?" his next sound was an odd one, not a moan and not a laugh, and awfully feline besides. "Yeah, that's not freakin me out or nothin. Dun you know everythin?"

"Zephyyyr. Same to you."

"You guys," interjected Pip, her bare toes rapping on the stone. "Think this's kinda the same thing happened to Seb."

"Hm?" Zephyr craned himself her way, and their hands tangled together, wires all a-flash.

"Mm!"

"Mnhn."

"Nnn~."

"Well, I like your theory so far," Roa nodded. Mostly, she wasn't being silly right back at their latest ridiculous display. Mostly. "Happened to Siebenkas...?"

"Yeah, he had this dream," the elder of the two evokers almost began to explain, digits working.

Whatever he meant to coax out of the recollections between them, Pip took over, swaying as she did. "He thinks was a dream, but is totally notta dream. I know. I touched him thinkin about it an it was all wrong fora dream. Still didn't make any sense, but not the same kinda way dreams do."

"Also, Seb never dreams he's nekkid. Fun fact."

("So useful, too," Roa remarked, quite to herself.)

"But, he walked outta his bathroom an alla a sudden, he was in this bar in Old New York an there were all these other people an he was almost kinda sorta mebbe flirtin with this mob boss lady over gin an tonic and then there was this real cute muddy guy. Seb didn't think he was so cute, but I did. He got way more distracted by the other lady evoked with her eyes and the booze was good an there were pretty blond polyamourous peeps bonkin in the restroom an... an... an..."

Her not so little description might have gone on another few hours, except that Zephyr reached around with his unoccupied hand and tickled her. The way they'd tangled up together, she must have known it was coming.

Which left Roa to conclude Pip wanted tickled more than she wanted to discuss any washroom adventures. "On one hand, that sounds very much like a dream to me. On the other, if there's some sort of precedent for people in our manor suddenly disobeying all known laws of physics. And you're not playing some sort of elaborate prank."

"Hey! I had my heart set on givin you your first electric milkshake an that's not somethin I'd go back on for any money." Next thing she did know with any certainty, Zephyr had play staggered over, clutching at his shirt, "'m so disappointed it /huuurts/."

"Well, you can make it up to me when the universe goes back to normal."

Grin for the time being, too.

"It is going to go back to normal?"

"Did last time. 's why we still gotta Seb an notta portal to someplace called Dan's," said Pip.

"Alright, so why don't we...?"

"Make the besta it?"

"Yes!" Roa swung from Zephyr's grasp. He only then reached for her, trying to find that place in her moments where the best meant [concrete] he could play after and with her. As it was, he missed her as she skipped the villa steps instead, swirling her skirt in her hands and calling back after: "We're going to get company, right?"

"Woul, that'd be nice, but if not," he shrugged. "We get blitzed an watch the stars come out." A quick little sigh and a pop of his shoulder after, he followed.

Pip watched the space in the sky where the clouds should have been. The end of her nose twitched. "We're so gettin company. Can smell it, almost. Somethin's zactly not right out there." Laughing then, she blew past them both and straight through the doors.



Stuff you actually need to know available in this direction:
http://rainbowlounge.dreamwidth.org/18653.html

Have fun!

ETA: This post has not been up thirty-six hours and we officially have more than 500 comments. SO I SUPPOSE THIS ISN'T FUN AT ALL AMMIRITE? XD

ETA II: I am really, really touched that everyone wants to take care of the deceased fellow in the pool. I'm sure he appreciates it (he didn't even have a name in the story where he first appeared ;_;). But, alas, there was only one of him and he's currently being handled. He may be installed in a bedroom shortly, and should that happen, I will give him his own thread for poking purposes.

Comments

[zach_meyers]

Zach grinned. "So am I. My stepdad was born in England, but he came here when he was two, and my mom and biological father," a word he said with a bit of disdain, "are both just American. My husband's biological father was from Sicily, though, and he's Gina Sophia's father too."

[bookblather]

"Ah," Gina said. "So you've got a biohazard. My wife's got one too, to her great sorrow, though he's dead now." She shook her head, then added, "Does your stepdad have an accent, then? Or did he lose it living in America?"

[zach_meyers]

Zach laughed. "That's a perfect term for him. Very accurate. Dad doesn't have an accent anymore, but Grandma Sharon does. I think hers is partly stubbornness. Dad does use some English swearing--he and Grandma Sharon went to England every summer until he was fourteen or so, so a lot of learning to swear was around his English cousins."

[bookblather]

"My wife's term," Gina said, very dryly. "She's not very fond of him, as I'm sure you could tell. That makes sense about the accent-- I was just curious. I did a bit of linguistics work in college and I was always interested in dialects and accents."

[zach_meyers]

"Grandma Sharon says he used to revert to a slight accent on vacations, but he's always denied that." Zach shrugged. "It's all word choice now, though."

[bookblather]

"It tends to be," Gina said, thoughtfully, leaning back against the couch a little. "At least, as far as I remember. You can learn a language well enough that you no longer have an accent, but the word choice will always give you away."

[zach_meyers]

Zach nodded, considering that. "That makes sense. So what do you do, Gina Besides randomly show up in ballrooms."

[bookblather]

"Oh, I'm an editor," she said, resting her water glass atop her belly. "With Lilac Press. Small publishing house in New York, you've probably never heard of it. What about you?"

[zach_meyers]

"I have a fantastic career as a stay-at-home mom and blogger." Zach grinned. "The blogging is mostly at night, when my husband's home and can watch the kids. It used to be more, but our kids are way more fun."

[bookblather]

Mom. Okay. That answered that question. Gina grinned. "Yeah? What do you blog about? And how many kids do you have?" She patted her belly. "This'll be our second."

[zach_meyers]

"We have six, but only two starting from birth." Zach smiled. "One biological for me, one for my husband, and our other four are adopted. When are you due?"

[bookblather]

Hmm. Maybe not a woman, then, or at least not biologically. Not that it mattered; she was just curious. "In a month," she said, beaming. "And let me tell you, I am so sick of being pregnant. It'll be worth it-- we're having a little girl, and she's going to be so beautiful. But I am sick of it." She ran a hand over her belly. "Andy-- that's our son-- he's shaky on it, but Ivy says he's going to be okay, and I trust her."

[zach_meyers]

"Evelyn and Persephone were both pretty wary when we told them our surrogate was pregnant," Zach said, "Persephone moreso than Evelyn. They loved Brenda almost as soon as we brought her home, though Then we'd just started fostering Jessica and Ben when Julia was born, and Ben was convinced we were going to send him and Jessica away. It took him a lot longer to adjust than it took our older girls, the first time." He smiled. "I remember when Will was born, my little brother. I wasn't quite seven, and I wasn't too sure about the little brother stuff. But I got over it pretty fast." And Will was hardly the biggest change to hit their family right around then.

[bookblather]

"Oh, so this is pretty normal?" Gina closed her eyes in relief. "Good, I'm so glad. I thought we'd fucked him up for life. And believe me, he'd gone through more than enough in his life. He was convinced we were going to send him away, too. Ivy got him settled down a little, but he's still so nervous."

[zach_meyers]

"As far as I can tell, totally normal," Zach said. "Even Dawn--my stepsister--was unsure about Will, and she was sixteen when he was born. First time she was going to have to share Dad with a baby, you know? But that was fine. It took Ben about a month to really relax, but like I said, he and Jessica had only been with us for a couple of months, and they'd burned through several foster homes before they came to us." He still didn't like how they'd come to him and Adamo. That they had, yes, but not how.

[bookblather]

"Andy did the same," she said, her mouth turning down at the corners. "My poor baby. But we've got him now, he's our baby." She managed a smile for Zach. "And you and your husband, you have them now. They're safe. That's all that matters."

[zach_meyers]

"I know a lot of foster parents are good ones--hell, we fostered for years, until we adopted Ben and Jessica, and probably will again when the kids are older and can help more--but the ones who are in it for healthy white babies they can eventually adopt really piss me off." Zach frowned. "I think Ben would have stood a better chance without Jessica, but if they'd been separated..." He didn't continue; the thought haunted her nightmares.

[bookblather]

Gina closed her eyes. "That was why we didn't foster," she admitted, quietly. "We... we didn't really... we wanted a kid we could adopt, and we didn't have the... the energy to let all of these children into our home when it wouldn't be a forever home. I couldn't bear to look at their faces. And... I don't understand how anyone could look at my son and not want him. I don't understand how anyone could look at a beautiful child like Andy and not want them."

[zach_meyers]

"We did emergency fosters sometimes," Zach said after a moment. "DCF social workers know we still will, if they really need someone. But those were the hardest, the kids coming to us in the middle of the night and knowing that, like as not, they'd be gone in two or three days, either back home or off to a more permanent foster. I think--I think some foster parents develop a kind of callous around their hearts and don't love all the children who come into their homes, but Adamo and I never learned that trick. We didn't click with all of them in the way we'd need to for it to be a permanent situation, but we did love all of them. Still do. So I don't understand how anyone could not love your son, either."

[bookblather]

She smiled at him, grateful for that. "You were the good ones, then. The right ones. My friend Jake, he got the right ones too, and he's so much better for it."

[zach_meyers]

He smiled back. "We try. Adamo and his sister are adopted, and Dad adopted us when Brett's parental rights were terminated. It's not remotely the same, but we do both know the difference the right home can make."

[bookblather]

"My wife's father did the same," Gina said. "It helped, when Andy was upset. But yeah, Jake... he lost his parents when he was nine, and he went into the system. He said he didn't even start to recover until he was placed with the Crofts."

[zach_meyers]

Zach's jaw tightened. "The system eats preadolescents, unless they're very lucky. I'm glad he was placed with them. It sounds like he got relatively lucky." Lucky would be, well, not losing his parents at all.

[bookblather]

"He did, yes." Gina leaned back, closed her eyes for a moment. "He's still in touch with his foster parents, I think. He got as lucky as you can get, but not right away. He's... he's very careful, now, about making sure there's someone to take care of his daughters if something happens to him or his wife."

[zach_meyers]

Zach nodded, lips pressed together. "It's hard enough to know what can happen from the adult end. Going through the system as a kid..." He shook her head. "I'm glad he's planned for his kids," he said at last. "That's...that's important."