ArchivedLogs:Cuddly Thorns

Cuddly Thorns
Dramatis Personae Micah, Melinda, Hive, Tola
In Absentia	25 June 2014 Gazebos! And babies!
Location <NYC> Harbor Commons - Courtyard - Lower East Side
This courtyard is the lush central hub of the surrounding Harbor Commons, bound in on three sides by rows of duplexes and triplexes, cutting upward at the sky with the sharp thrift of a minimalist's style, neat lines and bountiful windows, boldened with accents in wood towards the upper stories, stone towards the base, the whole of the compound sealed in by a low stoneworked wall that opens entrance gates to the streets beyond at its two far corners, smaller gates at building back doors. The fourth side of the courtyard is open to the East River, the ground forming a slight decline, controlled on one side by micro-retaining walls to form wide steps where picnic tables sit beneath the nominative shelter of a trio of dogwood trees, accessible by ramp. The other side is allowed to slope at its natural angle, a wide open yard space, until its cut off at the river's edge, where a massive pair of oak trees stand, a staircase leading away up one of their thick trunks. The yard itself is carpeted in an organic flow of emerald grass swirled through with wending channels of smooth-paved cement walkways, flowing naturally away from the building's front entrances, where some are arced by trellis, some flanked by hosta plants, fern and lilies, a few laid in gentle switch-backing ramps for wheelchair access, before forking off at matching angles to sites of small garden installments. Bird feeders and baths suspended from the necks of small lamp posts, a rock-lined koi pond, a sleek gazebo tucked to one side in simplistic varnished wood, its southern side overgrown with a mass of thriving grapevine and a caged-in barbecue pit under its sheltering roof. A play area and proper garden are within sight off another branch, until finally all paths spiral in like wheel spokes to a shared common house at the center of all traffic flow. The sun is setting, just starting to pour its golden rays to puddle in deep reds across the clouds hanging lower in the sky. There is a brief break in the rainstorms that have thundered through intermittently throughout the day and Spence is making the most of it off in the playground, very animatedly moving through the rocketship and and generally monkeying his way around the rest of the equipment. The boy was feeling his independent streak today, and as such Micah has hung back at the gazebo, an eye occasionally on the playground as he tap-taps at his computer keyboard and intermittently sips at a glass of half-lemonade, half-iced tea. He looks rather typical for late in the evening, auburn hair still spiky from air drying after his shower, faded jeans and sneakers worn with an olive green T-shirt depicting a Darwin inspired sketch of finches, but with /technological/ upgrades rather than biological ones. Melinda comes out with a bag of take out and a small child. She's brought Tola's things with her, crammed into the bag on her shoulder. She's dressed in a relaxed manner, long skirt of stretchy material in gray, with a lavender tank top layered over a bra, the clasps that make nursing possible are peeking out as the straps threaten to make their way down her shoulders. She heads for the gazebo, raising half a hand to wave her last three fingers as she turns to Tola and speaks softly, the clear air carrying words about 'look who's here' and 'you like Micah, don't you?' As she gets closer, she walks directly up to Micah and looks as if she's offering him her child. "Want to holder for a sec while I get set up?" Babies are /excellent/ excuses to set aside laptops and work e-mails! Micah does just this after a few clicks and taps, going so far as to tuck the thing away in his bag after that. "Hey hon. Oh, look y'brought flowers. How thoughtful." This last is only half addressed to Mel, the other half clearly meant for Tola with his cooing tone. He slaps some lemon scented hand sanitizer on before reaching for the little one, bringing her into a tiny-diagonal-pushup position against his chest. "An' who's developin' head control? Good little neck muscles." It really doesn't matter much /what/ you say to babies as long as it's in the right tone, honestly. Especially if it also comes with a gentle kiss to the top of the head and some exaggerated facial expressions. He chuckles as her little eyes work to fix on his face. "How's your day been?" Another nod indicates a Thermos and additional empty glasses already set up. "Got s'more sweet tea an' lemonade there if y'want some." "Ah, apologies. I get so used to Hive constantly having his head in a laptop - I forget that I don't have to interrupt everyone else every so often." Melinda waits until he is ready then hands Tola to Micah. The little one is wearing naught but a diaper today, but she is nice and cool for the lack of clothing. She seems to just be waking up from a nap, head rolling to look toward the sound of the voice speaking to her, one hand waggling at him. Mel settles down a small distance away from Micah, pulling a blanket out of her bag and spreading it over the bench between them, giving Tola a place to lay, completely safe as she isn't really moving much yet. "The drink sounds lovely," she sets her food bag aside and gets to her feet again, pouring herself a glass before settling down again. "It was okay. Work was busy enough to keep me distracted. I'm liking the new hands free nursing bra I got. I'm able to get both sides done at the same time now. Shorter breaks help. How about you?" "Oh, nothin' of it. I was just gettin' some things done since I was sittin'. Spence kinda wanted the rockets to 'imself t'night." Micah's head nods in the direction of the playground. He brings a finger up to press into Tola's palm, giggling as her fingers clasp down for some time before rather randomly releasing. Mel's set-up clear enough in intention, he returns the sprout to her only after his finger is returned to his own keeping. "S'nice t'have work, 'specially when you're gettin' back into the swing of things. Been keepin' right busy, m'self, 'tween work an' the kids an' us buildin' most of the furniture for the house an' gardenin' both here an' the community plots. Jax's gettin' back t'his regular schedule, too. Well...minus school, of course." "So, crazy hectic again?" Melinda raises an eyebrow as she lays Tola on her back, looking down at her and tickling her stomach lightly. There's a slight delayed reaction, but the infant smiles and giggles. She then turns away to open her bag and pull out a tray of veggie sushi, peeling off the hard plastic lid, then finding the bucket of soy sauce and mixes in the wasabi. "I swear, thinking about what you two do makes me exhausted. Then again, I have a two month old. Everything makes me exhausted. What do you do for fun, Micah?" She doesn't bother with chopsticks, except to stir the sauce mixture, dunking a cucumber roll in it and then popping it in her mouth. "Not s'much /hectic/. Just busy. But there ain't so many deadlines an' crises right now. So it's a good-busy. Doin' things. Makin' things. Helpin' people." A sudden cloud passes over the warm-friendly expression that had been on Micah's face up to this point. "Though there'll prob'ly be another raid right soon. That'll be hectic again." He shakes his head as if to throw off the darker thoughts. "Started up Tuesday Game Nights again once folks got all moved in here an' bought some new games. Gonna be a mad stock between the common house an' Dusk an' Hive an' Flicker. An' the gardenin' an' buildin' stuff are fun, too. Not just work or I prob'ly wouldn't be doin' quite so much of it. Spendin' time with the kids's fun, too. An' Jax. An' everybody else...be a long list, I keep doin' it that way." One corner of his mouth twitches up with amusement. "Do some readin' if there's that much downtime. Used t'do more knittin' but just ain't gone an' bought the supplies again since the apartments blew up. Ain't really somethin' I do as much in the summer. More gardenin' when it's warm out, knittin' once it's cold." He reaches a hand out to tickle at one of Tola's feet, grin broadening even further at her wiggly toes. "You been gettin' all the help y'need with her?" "Oh, yeah. Raid," Mel sounds distant as she goes over that in her head. She's quiet for a while, but Micah fills up the silence so it's not quite as noticeable. She watches him quietly, transferring her attention from his face to his hands when he begins to play with Tola's toes. "Game nights will be fun. I wasn't quite up for the first one. Kind of dragging ass when I get home still. All I end up wanting to do is spend time with Tola and whoever else doesn't mind us around. Hive's been good. Jim's been around." She takes a long pull off of her tea'n'lemonade, swallowing and apparently enjoying it. "And yeah. Plenty of help. Tove's lovely. He's great with her. Knows just what she needs when she needs it. The dads love their time, too, so when I'm tired, I know they're able to cuddle her just how she needs." She glances back up at Micah with a happy sparkle in her gaze. "Actually - Don't know if Shane told you, but he held her the other day, before her check up." The tickle fingers creepy-crawl up to Tola's belly and back down to her toes, lips buzzing to make silly noises for the little one's entertainment. "Mmhm. S'kinda hard t'think on strategy games'n such when you're wiped. S'good she's got so many folks 'round. Good..." Micah's eyebrows tick up at Mel's revelation, voice pleasantly surprised. "Did he, now? That's quite a step for 'im with you'n her. How'd that go?" "Give me Candyland, these days. I feel like I'm devolving to match her intellect. Next thing you know, I'll be drooling and drinking milk out of a bottle." Mel laughs softly, popping another bit of sushi in her mouth a moment later. She inhales as she chews, masticating quietly but eager enough to answer Micah's question. "Oh," She swallows and clears her mouth of last bits of rice grain before she speaks. "Well, it went okay. She didn't seem to mind his claws. We spoke on her take on the world and the world's take on her - then started thinking up cool defenses she could grow if she turns out to have powers like Jim's. Poison thorn tentacles was the ideal." "Candyland's /awesome/, no joke. Just gotta get a retro version 'cause the newer ones are startin' t'look kinda creepy." Micah chuckles a bit at Mel's image. "At least /she's/ just gettin' brighter. Means y'all get t'meet in the middle, right?" His fingers walk up in time to meet-in-the-middle, a little nose boop coming along with 'middle'. "Think her primary defense's likely t'be /cute/. Just overpower everythin' with sheer cute. S'like a Care Bear stare. Only...more literal starin' an' less glowy belly." Aaand, we're back to tummy tickles, of course. "Not that we'd mind if y'get a glowy belly." Melinda snorts at the thought, shaking her head. "Sure. Meet in the middle. I'll be relearning my alphabet while she's forming her first words." The pair of them are sitting in the gazebo, with Tola laid out on a blanket between them on the bench. She sips a mixture of tea and lemonade between bites of veggie sushi she is liberally dipping in soy and wasabi. She shakes one undipped piece at Micah. "Cute only works so well. I'm happy for it, don't get me wrong, but I kind of hope she gets some more tangible defenses." Shuffle shuffle shuffle. Hive's approach isn't very quick or very stealthy; he is leaning heavily on his cane as he makes his way over to the gazebo. He's barefoot, in jeans and a plain white tee, thunking a shoulder up against the entryway as he glares down at Tola. Despite the glare there's just music playing in his head at the moment, Guster's "Lightning Rod" at the moment trickling in to her. << Bigass thorns, >> he volunteers, the song underlying his words, too -- though the music does little to soften the /stab/ of his words, more wrenching-painful today than usual. "Don't underestimate the cute. S'pretty much what I've gotten by on this far," Micah adds in a teasing tone, fluttering his reddish fringe of lashes a bit to play it up. "I do hope that means Shane's gettin' past...whatever. His disapproval or the knee-jerk feelin's or whatever it is. I'd love for 'em t'get along. Ain't too many folks born with physical mutations an' it'd be good for 'em t'have one another, just for that if nothin' else." He spares a hand from baby-play to pat at Mel's shoulder. "An' I know y'all used t'be friends an' that was /good/ for 'im. It'd be nice if you two could have that back, too, maybe." Micah winces a little as Hive's vote comes crashing in. "Hi, Hive," he calls before he even gets visual confirmation of the man's presence. "There's sweet tea'n lemonade in the Thermos." Melinda nods slowly at the discussion, her brows rising as she takes it in. She misses Shane too, but doesn't hang a lot of hope on a sudden renewal of the connection. He's in an entirely different place in his life now and she certainly is as well. Still. Maybe. "I kind of feel like I have to prove to him every day that I will do none of the stupid shit his parents did. I... would never part with Tola..." She pauses when then musical headache starts creeping in behind her eyes, a smile replacing the tension that was mounting in her mouth. She looks over toward the entryway, finding exactly who she expected. "But, cuddly big ass thorns, right?" << Cuddly -- >> This agreement just ends in /fog/, a mental stutter into tired confusion. Grasping for words. Hive gives up on this as he makes his way inside, dropping down (unsteady) (heavy) to sit on the floor between them rather than the bench, head thunking back against where Tola has been laid. His head rolls to the side after a moment, butting up to rest against Melinda's leg. "Yeah," he finally manages to summon up, though it's with a little bit of uncertainty. Not very /committed/ to this 'yeah' anymore. His eyes close, posture drooping sleepily in against Melinda as he gives up on speech for resting instead. "Dunno if it's even as direct as all that. Don't think he b'lieves /you'd/ give 'er up. Just that the /world's/ gonna treat 'er nothin' but terrible." Since Micah is already sparing a hand from baby-play, he moves it to Hive's head, playing through his hair. << Cuddly thorns. That sounds familiar. >> He's /maybe/ thinking about Hive and also the image of a hedgehog pulling into a grumpy spikeball. Melinda nods slowly, "Yeah, we just talked about his birth parents..." She lets it go, then suppressing the notion that she shouldn't hope. She watches Hive instead, studying him as he sits down, then reaches out and rests a hand against his head, fingers running through his hair gently. She likes the feel of his hair under her fingernails. She just rests there for a moment, then returns to her food.