06-18-2017, 10:32 PM
Of course she smiles at Kali. Who could do anything but? Such a cute, charming little thing, my Kali. “Thank you. You’re awfully pretty yourself,” she answers, and if pride creeps into my smile, well, how could she blame me? Yeah, but then she looks at me, and that smile fades. Shit. Right. Doesn’t exactly sound delighted to remember me, does she, and she glances at Kali, then back to me.
Been a long while since I saw that look on anyone’s face. That what the fuck look of surprise and doubt that someone as scum of the earth as yours truly could give a shit about his kid. I try damn hard not to let hurt flash across my face, and to be fair, she’s not wrong to think it. The man I was when I met her probably wouldn’t have given half that. Hell, didn’t. I’d had Min back then, and I’d hardly done right by her, after all. Hard to find a shittier father, really.
So I shrug it off and brush my cheek against Kali’s shoulder. Can’t exactly just blurt out that loving Ty, even for a little while, changed me. And words are just words anyhow. So I just nod. “Kirby.” Because the only one who ever used my name was Ty, and coming from him it had always felt like something of an honorific, like he saw more in me than I showed most people, or maybe more than I let myself see. Like he saw my potential and he called me out on wasting it.
The asshole.
I still miss him sometimes.
“It’s very nice to meet you, too, Miss Roma. Me an’ Daddy, we’re having a frolic. We like to play on the water together, sometimes with my big brother and sister too. They’re pretty like Daddy, except not all shiny. Kinda like me, but purple where I’m greys. But today, it’s just the two of us. Or I guess now the three of us, huh? But that’s good too, especially if you’re Daddy’s friend.” Thank goodness she’s feeling chatty in the face of a stranger today instead of hiding behind me and peeking her nose around to see if it’s safe. Means I don’t have to talk, and can let her do a little shining. Like she should.
She’s about at eye level with Roma, but I’m towering a bit too much above, so I sink gently into the water, nuzzling Kali when she turns with wide eyes to watch me. No big deal, baby girl. Carry on. Her spine tenses a bit and her head comes up as she flares her nostrils and dances nervously on top of the water, trying to figure out how she can tuck herself up against me when I’m too short. I touch my nose to hers and just breathe, and she steadies. Presses against the solid wall of my neck briefly, and then smiles tentatively at Roma again. One more nervous glance back at me, and she takes a deep breath and sinks just a little ways into the water.
Kali takes a step closer to Roma, her face scrunching up at the feel of pulling her foot through the water instead of gliding over the top. I can’t help but grin. “You’ve got this, angel eyes. You can stay up if you want, though.”
“Uh-uh, I’m comin’ in, the cuddling’s better when I’m my height. Just gimme a minute.” With each step closer to Roma, she sinks a little more, ‘til she’s almost at her normal height relative to the two of us. “Hi,” she says cheerily, cuddling up to Roma for a quick little moment, rubbing her face on Roma’s shoulder. For maybe the first time, it occurs to me that Kali’s got exactly two settings: stranger-no-touchy and best-friend-cuddles. Oops. Maybe something we should work on a little when we get home, huh? My lips twitch a little in a barely-restrained grin as she beams up at her new best friend.
“Where do you live? We live on Ischia, it’s this really pretty island, and my daddy’s the boss. Him and Papa Reilly, of course, who is...um…” She glances over at me, and her brow’s all wrinkled as she tries to figure out what to call him. “He’s Mommy and Daddy’s friend, but um...kind of like another daddy ‘cause he watches us sometimes and plays with us sometimes, and he cuddles with Mommy sometimes, an’ he’s real nice. He talks kinda funny, but a good kinda funny that makes the words dance kinda like this water does. An’ we’ve got Mommy of course, and Daddy, and Khari and Kylie, and Baddie, who Daddy found in a cave the day I was borned, and he’s got purple even though he’s not Daddy’s baby like me, but he’s my brother too, he just didn’t grow in Mommy like I did. And Khari said there’s other people to play with too, but I haven’t met them, but I bet you’d like them too probably, if Daddy and Papa Reilly let them live there.”
Also maybe a talk about over-sharing. Oh well. That, at least, is almost never a problem. I snort and smile indulgently, and Kali wriggles a little and smiles back at me before turning back to look up at Roma. “We’ve got birdies, too, all the colors of the rainbow, and our island’s really pretty, d’you wanna come see?”
Been a long while since I saw that look on anyone’s face. That what the fuck look of surprise and doubt that someone as scum of the earth as yours truly could give a shit about his kid. I try damn hard not to let hurt flash across my face, and to be fair, she’s not wrong to think it. The man I was when I met her probably wouldn’t have given half that. Hell, didn’t. I’d had Min back then, and I’d hardly done right by her, after all. Hard to find a shittier father, really.
So I shrug it off and brush my cheek against Kali’s shoulder. Can’t exactly just blurt out that loving Ty, even for a little while, changed me. And words are just words anyhow. So I just nod. “Kirby.” Because the only one who ever used my name was Ty, and coming from him it had always felt like something of an honorific, like he saw more in me than I showed most people, or maybe more than I let myself see. Like he saw my potential and he called me out on wasting it.
The asshole.
I still miss him sometimes.
“It’s very nice to meet you, too, Miss Roma. Me an’ Daddy, we’re having a frolic. We like to play on the water together, sometimes with my big brother and sister too. They’re pretty like Daddy, except not all shiny. Kinda like me, but purple where I’m greys. But today, it’s just the two of us. Or I guess now the three of us, huh? But that’s good too, especially if you’re Daddy’s friend.” Thank goodness she’s feeling chatty in the face of a stranger today instead of hiding behind me and peeking her nose around to see if it’s safe. Means I don’t have to talk, and can let her do a little shining. Like she should.
She’s about at eye level with Roma, but I’m towering a bit too much above, so I sink gently into the water, nuzzling Kali when she turns with wide eyes to watch me. No big deal, baby girl. Carry on. Her spine tenses a bit and her head comes up as she flares her nostrils and dances nervously on top of the water, trying to figure out how she can tuck herself up against me when I’m too short. I touch my nose to hers and just breathe, and she steadies. Presses against the solid wall of my neck briefly, and then smiles tentatively at Roma again. One more nervous glance back at me, and she takes a deep breath and sinks just a little ways into the water.
Kali takes a step closer to Roma, her face scrunching up at the feel of pulling her foot through the water instead of gliding over the top. I can’t help but grin. “You’ve got this, angel eyes. You can stay up if you want, though.”
“Uh-uh, I’m comin’ in, the cuddling’s better when I’m my height. Just gimme a minute.” With each step closer to Roma, she sinks a little more, ‘til she’s almost at her normal height relative to the two of us. “Hi,” she says cheerily, cuddling up to Roma for a quick little moment, rubbing her face on Roma’s shoulder. For maybe the first time, it occurs to me that Kali’s got exactly two settings: stranger-no-touchy and best-friend-cuddles. Oops. Maybe something we should work on a little when we get home, huh? My lips twitch a little in a barely-restrained grin as she beams up at her new best friend.
“Where do you live? We live on Ischia, it’s this really pretty island, and my daddy’s the boss. Him and Papa Reilly, of course, who is...um…” She glances over at me, and her brow’s all wrinkled as she tries to figure out what to call him. “He’s Mommy and Daddy’s friend, but um...kind of like another daddy ‘cause he watches us sometimes and plays with us sometimes, and he cuddles with Mommy sometimes, an’ he’s real nice. He talks kinda funny, but a good kinda funny that makes the words dance kinda like this water does. An’ we’ve got Mommy of course, and Daddy, and Khari and Kylie, and Baddie, who Daddy found in a cave the day I was borned, and he’s got purple even though he’s not Daddy’s baby like me, but he’s my brother too, he just didn’t grow in Mommy like I did. And Khari said there’s other people to play with too, but I haven’t met them, but I bet you’d like them too probably, if Daddy and Papa Reilly let them live there.”
Also maybe a talk about over-sharing. Oh well. That, at least, is almost never a problem. I snort and smile indulgently, and Kali wriggles a little and smiles back at me before turning back to look up at Roma. “We’ve got birdies, too, all the colors of the rainbow, and our island’s really pretty, d’you wanna come see?”