Jellyfish for your thoughts? (OPEN)

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It was a lovely day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and all the fluffy clouds in the sky looked like cotton balls drifting about. Clare sat on the edge of the lake with her feet in the water and an empty stroller and carefully packed diaper bag beside her. On her lap, playing with a teething toy shaped like a jellyfish, reclined Christina, who was obviously having a good day by the smile on her face and joy in her burbling.

Clare, on the other hand. Clare was doing everything she could to keep her mind entirely and totally occupied. It had been a little over two weeks, and she was just now starting to show signs of getting free. Felicity had helped a great deal, by coming over and demanding Clare snap out of it (kindly) and then going as far as to raise the spirit of Jason and let Clare say her final goodbye. And right now she was listening to Felicity as hard as she could. So propped up on the diaper bag was the newspaper, open to the job ads. She refused to allow any daycare take care of her precious Christy, so most of them were out automatically. She’d have to find something from home. Of course, she had enough money to be okay for a decently long while, but she simply couldn’t go with doing nothing except being a housewife when she was, well, more like a housewidow. She could stay home all day with the baby, but when no man was coming home to enjoy the supper she cooked and jointly help Christy with her own dinner. It just didn’t feel the same. So she had to do something.

Words: 289
Tag: @ OPEN
Notes:

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but what about n o w ? It was actually a pretty nice day for March... always interesting, how the days could look so nice and everything carried on around you, even if it felt like your own world was ending. But that was life, he supposed, it went on. With or without you. Being it was a nice day though, Edmund decided to take a walk along the lake. Maybe sit by the water and wood carve. But who knew what would happen, really. If anything, he had learned that his life would never be exactly the way he wanted it or planned it. His life was a chaotic mess. Double edged sword there... Spontinaity and keeping things fresh, sure. A feel of permanace or peace, not really. He wasn't the only one who thought today was nice for a walk. He passed a few civilians, and then spotted someone more familiar to him as he went further along: Clare. The last time he had really seen her had probably been at his trial. Afterwards, maybe he had seen a glance or two of her when with the government, but most of his memories on that had sort of been shoved down into the familiar depths of "don't think about it". A slight frown flickered across his face. Word around the legion spread fast, especially if it had to do with an ex-preator and ex-head of infirmary. Not that Edmund had ever gotten along with Kyoto well, but he had been important to Ethan and had left behind a family. Not that he'd ever really say he could empathize with that, but well... he could empathize with that. Not specifity with the family; he hadn't lost a spouse, but he did know what it was like to lose a sibling. No fun at all. An amused smile flickered across his face when he saw the baby on her lap. Little gremlin... "Anything good?" he asked, sitting down with a respectful amount of space between them. COMMENTARIUM: i actually don't think they've ever threaded together to my memory.... VERBA: 329

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Clare picked the fallen jellyfish off Christy’s lap when the baby decided her hands should not work for a moment and her holding it with her wee little mouth only lasted so long. How did Super Mom know such a tragedy had happened? Well, the fact that spoiled little baby Christy immediately sniffed did help some. Clare glanced at her daughter and saw the impending disaster and picked up the mildly moist toy in a flash. Christy, bless her tiny heart, decided okay maybe her hands could work again. Big blue eyes widened to dinner plates as Christy reached for the toy to the point where she almost fell on her face, just because Clare was taking a split second to wipe the excess dribble off on her jeans. The hand that was not holding the toy wrapped around the still decently rounded and pudgy belly to keep Adventure Girl from nosediving until Clare offered her back the tribute. And back in the mouth it went as mom lightly pulled her back to leaning back so all was once again good in the world.

She had just put her hand back to the newspaper and turned her head that way when a voice came from decently close, so she looked up. Well, turned out she didn’t need to look up because the Voice’s owner was taking a seat sorta next to her. She knew him anywhere. Edmund Simons. Probably the best one to ever grace the forges in his younger days, followed by betraying the camp to Saturn in his older days, followed by getting dishonorably discharged (something she had been present at the trial for), followed by taking up residence with another ex-traitor and her husband and soon their son and then she died and after that, Clare kind of had no idea. She knew that Josh was dangerously depressed, so she’d kind of avoided the situation entirely. Plus the fact that that was about when her own story was beginning in earnest. But here was the one who had unfortunately been forgotten in the mess.

Clare smiled at him. Surely after all this time, he had made up for what bad he had done? She was sure if anyone had been able to do it, Josh’s smidgeon of remaining sanity was probably jointly thanks to his son and the young man sitting next to her. So, in her mind, he was good again. “Hello, Edmund. In the paper…?” she winced. “Not really. Not a lot of call for someone who refuses to work away from home. But if you mean anything good in general, then… I suppose so. I mean, it’s a nice day. That’s something to be happy for, right?” The baby was ignoring him, seeing as Hampton the Jellyfish was pretty darn interesting. Give her time though.

Words: 471
Tag: PRINCESS EDWINA III (aka edmundsimons )
Notes: Yay threads with Ellie!!!

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the answer is always i'm f i n e (not really) If people hadn't known about him after their trips in and out of the forge for weapons, repairs, and requests, they probably knew him well after the war. Being a traitor with a dishonorable discharge would do that. Him, Felicity, and Rhia were all in the same club: Notorious Backstabbers R Us. Improper grammar but whatever. So much for his goal of no attention and just passing through the legion with as little notice as possible. The debate in his own head of "am I actually a traitor?" was one of the many that kept him up at night. Still, two years later, he wasn't entirely sure. There was one thing he knew though: Josh was probably the only one who actually knew what happened, and that was the way it was going to stay. Forever. He remembered being asked by Rhia once when he got himself drunk. He had skillfully avoided the question. But for all intents and purposes, for everyone else in Camp and New Rome, he was. Watching the Kyoto's daughter play reminded him of Art a bit. Same curious "I guess this is fine, I'll just keep playing"; though kids were far more perceptive than most people gave them credit for. Their parents probably had gone into cardiac arrest when they learned that their children had asked a traitor for help in mending their toys. Not like Ed was really in a position to refuse: they usually saw him making things on the Roger's stoop when it was nice out enough. Oddly enough, they weren't scared away. Ugh, children. Besides, mending and making toys and weapons had always been his fall back. Something going wrong? Drown yourself in work. His work especially. Had to be sharp and not out of it; if not, you could either die or bring the forge down. Look after Art during the day, forge at night. Look after Josh, keep yourself together, Roman up, and try to not think too hard about the gaping crater. Healthy way of coping? Nah. But when did he ever cope healthily? It was rare to see someone smile at him that was outside of the usual suspects. It was still something that made his brain jam a bit. Seeing a confused Ed would probably be the closest someone could ever see a live "buffering" face. He had gotten decently good at keeping a straight face, but that didn't mean that he never slipped up. Especially when he got taken off guard. He nodded slightly. "Good luck in your search. I'll let you know if I hear anything." His eyes went to the jellyfish amusing the child. "Yeah, suppose that is," he said softly. He looked back over at Clare and hesitated slightly. "How're you holding up?" Wow, gotten soft much? Either that or I was one of the biggest jerks to have ever existed. Probably both. Toned down his jerk nature to have a bit of empathy and softness. Stupid things families did to you. COMMENTARIUM: haha and yay threading with AB! VERBA: ~480

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He looked confused. Which meant Clare wasn’t sure what to think. But the nod was a good sign, right? She smiled back at his kind words. “Thank you very much! It certainly wouldn’t hurt to have an extra set of eyes.” She followed his eyes down to Christina who was having a fine time. Then she looked up when she heard Edmund’s question and sighed. “It’s difficult. Very difficult. But just have to take it day by day. Sometime things will be better. And you and Josh? And Arthur?”

At this point, the munchkin on Clare’s lap finally realized there was another human present. Probably because Clare had taken a moment in replying to Ed’s question to stroke the child’s head to ground herself mentally to what she did still have. Christy looked up, Hampton clamped in her tiny fingers, her blue eyes wide at the sight of Edmund. For some strange reason, Clare had found her little one reacted this way to just about every new face. Then she did the other thing she did with every new face.

One glance to mom, who smiled, then onward ho! Hampton fell to Clare’s lap one more time, but Christy didn’t care one lick. She reached for the nearest part of the Edmund she could get to, which wasn’t actually in her reach, so she huffed and puffed and tried harder. She was determined to see meet this towering (to her) individual. Clare, who had seen this in its many forms with any number of people, laughed. “Careful, Edmund, or you’ll make a new mini friend. No worries, she means no harm. Just… especially after-… she just misses having more people paying attention to her, you know? So she demands it.” Clare reached down and semi-restrained the infant. “Christy, let him decide if he wants to be your friend too, okay?”

Words: 310
Tag: edmundsimons
Notes: That moment when it occurs to the AB that if Clare finds out Rhia made it back... o.o T-T

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the answer is always i'm f i n e (not really) Edmund often wondered how confusing he was. Less or more so than so long ago? Less or more so since his capture, since the war, since the quest... Everything seemed far away now. Distant. All the pain had started becoming more like an annoying itch that would flare up every now and again. Brief, but so intense that it threatened to drag him under if he pondered it for too long. Clare didn't fully see him as a threat, right? Well, she didn't look overly wary of him, and was even letting her child near him, so he supposed those could count as positive signs. Better than old timers who lived in New Rome. He wondered how many of them would ever get over the fact that he lived in New Rome, along with another traitor (or so it said on the papers). No... it never was as simple as that, was it? No matter now... not like he'd ever say anything. Not that it helped his case, at all. The vigilante attacks had stopped, but there were other ways of civilians showing their displeasure. Ed didn't care though: he had Felicity, Josh, Rhia, Ethan, and Art. Not a lot of idiots to his name, but his idiots nonetheless. What even made him more confused at points, was that hey had accepted him as their idiots as well. "No problem." He could only imagine what it was like... trying to raise a child all alone. Well, he did have minor experience: Josh. Then again, Ed would intervene during the day, so at least he had some help. "Yeah," Ed muttered softly, looking out with a slight sigh. If there was anything he could empathize with, it would probably be that. He had gone through enough loss that the feelings were practically second nature, and often left their sting long after. "We're better. And Art's... well, he barely knew anything was going on." Had both of them been a wreck without Rhia? Yeah... in their own ways, but a child was in the equation now. Both of them couldn't completely fall apart. Josh had more of  a right to a break down than Ed did, so Ed underwent a thorough shut down. Knowing he had to take care of both Rogers had been the only thing to keep him afloat. He watched the infant in mild amusement. They were so... little and innocent and curious... Blank slates. Hopefully the gods had finished raving and would leave them alone. A heavy price on one generation... but perhaps a couple would be left alone. A small smile flickered across his face as Christy reached out, unsuccessfully, towards his arm. He nodded. "Understandable...." he murmured. He scooted over a bit. "Hey, Christy," he greeted softly, looking at the child. "Don't have anything on me right now... I'll come bearing gifts of amnesty next time." Not that she'd really understand anything, but he never said he was great at baby talk. COMMENTARIUM: *one month and a few weeks later* x_x VERBA: 496

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Edmund was officially on her good list. He was willing to help her find a job! Plus he was here, being quite nice and everything. She watched him as he looked away and saw the same pain in his eyes that she saw in her own in the mirror every day. She reached out a hand and rested it on his shoulder. “Everything is going to be okay. For everyone.” She took her had away after a moment, not wanting to encroach. She sighed and nodded. “That’s what I’m afraid of for Christy. She won’t have any memories of him to hold on to. Just a few pictures.” She took a deep breath as tears threatened per usual. “I’m glad you two are getting better though. If there’s anything I can do to help, you let me know, okay? We could all get together for dinner or something sometime. How does that sound? I’ll cook. I like to cook. Consider yourselves officially invited.” Yes, that would be perfect. She could cook a big meal for her, Josh, Ed, and of course the two little ones. She knew a couple things that were great for little tinies. Messy as all get-out, but that was half the fun. And they were made from scratch fresh recipes too. It would all be perfect. Wouldn’t Jason be happy if he could see her doing this? Reaching out to another family in need? Maybe even getting Christy a new friend! Sure, their age was a bit different, but seeing as Christy was only used to adults, someone a tiny bit closer would probably be healthy.

She held back the squirmy baby in her efforts until Edmund moved closer and a fond smile came to her face as he started talking to her. Seemed his time with Art had changed him considerably, seeing as he seemed to know just what to do with Christy. The latter of which was currently poking and squeezing at his arm, though her eyes were riveted on the face talking to her so nicely.

Words: 369
Tag: edmundsimons

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but what about n o w ? People being nice to him and him being nice back? What kind of concept was this? Three years ago, the thought wouldn't have even entered his mind. He was just out to antagonize and sass no matter who talked to him: praetor, cohort member, male, female, older, younger, god, he didn't discriminate. Since then, he supposed he had gotten something else to hold on to. Something else he could live for besides purposefully being a pain to everyone before he got taken out. Double edged sword he supposed: it was nice to have a family, to be counted on and to count on... downside: vulnerability, which he did hate. But he supposed it was worth it, in the long run, even if there had been some rough patches. Sometimes he didn't think it so and he'd have his doubts about everything. About staying with the Rogers, about staying in New Rome, about staying on the earth. But then he would just think of everything they had survived together... and it'd help though. Never over. Always though. Edmund forced himself to relax slightly at her touch. Physical contact isn't bad, you're just not used to it. At least not in the positive sense. It took one negative to cancel out all the positives. And by negatives, he meant the government. Ed had come back home with nearly all his bones broken. What had one of the campers said to him once? He'd probably meet his death by being sarcastic at the wrong time. Well, it almost happened... He nodded slightly at her words. Usually true, even though, at the time, it didn't look like it'd be so. "Understandable. But he could still stay alive, in you," he tilted his head towards Christy, "and her." He had realized that after Rhia died. How some of Josh's and Art's quirks reminded him of her. How they had all rubbed off on each other in one way or another. He gave a small smile. "That's very kind of you. I'm sure it'd be nice. I'll ask." His gaze went back to Christy. Children... little gremlins... But at the same time, it was kind of nice. They were so innocent. Nothing was wrong with the world except when they were hungry or tired. So oblivious to the evils of the world outside of them. He smiled slightly, letting the small girl prod his arm. "Who needs toys when you have human flesh?" he asked in a tease. COMMENTARIUM: Sorrryyy T_T VERBA: 412

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Clare was glad Ed was here. Someone who kind of knew her story. He had suffered loss too that might as well have been family. Right? She knew holding his shoulder was pushing boundaries of Edmund Simons-ness. Considering the guy didn’t seem to let anyone near him, he obviously couldn’t be the huggy type. Then Ed spoke and she really did have to hold back the urge to hug him. She took a deep breath to steady herself and nodded. “Thank you. You have no idea how much that means to hear.” She laughed slightly. “Everyone makes it like you’re some maniacal hermit, Edmund. I honestly don’t see it. Right now you’re being incredibly kind to Christy and I. So thank you.”

Oh, didn’t a huge dinner sound fun? She could make it like a Thanksgiving, with turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and all that good stuff. And of course cranberry sauce. She had this method her mother had always done where you made fresh cranberries and boiled them until they popped and they were delicious. She’d do that. She’d done it before for Christy, and the little girl had loved the sloppy sweet stuff. She hoped Arthur would like it too.

When he commented that human flesh could trump toys, she laughed and nudged him jokingly. “I’ll let you babysit her when she starts teething and see if you still say that.” She laughed. Oh yes, that particularly point in Christy’s future sounded fun. She hugged her little girl a little, but the child did not notice as she was busy playing with her new friend. Obviously Ed had a valid point.

TAG: edmundsimons
WORDS: 274
NOTES: sorry so short!

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that was t h e n this is n o w  Edmund couldn't help but give a genuine, amused smile. Maniacal Hermit... well, they weren't entierly wrong. Of course, it was all a matter of opinion, and people's answers would vary, depending on who it was. Then again, if that's what the majority of people were saying, he was doing his job right (for the most part). Minus  Josh, Rhia, Art, Ethan, Felicity, and now apparently Clare and Tessa. But hey, he supposed he could show his more hidden side around people he knew better. He didn't have much to hide from them (minus him actually being on Camp's side during the war, but that was irrelevant). As for Clare and Tessa... well, he couldn't be a complete jerk when he could empathize with the situation to a certain extent. His face slipped into confusion for a moment. Out of all the adjectives anyone could use to describe him, "kind" wouldn't be one of them. Yet here someone was, using just that word. Was it around this time his brain thought "Wow, you are the worst if someone describing you in the positive makes you buffer"? Or was that later, after the shock had worn off? Someone out of his adopted family being nice to him... what a concept. Caught off guard, Edmund defaulted to a pre-Legion response. "You're welcome." And then he had to ruin the moment and make it less weird. At least, for him. "Don't tell anyone though, I've got a reputation to keep," he said in a light tease. Having people over. Since when did that happen? He did remember having Felicity and Ethan over once or twice, but other than that, they pretty much kept to themselves. Ed probably had to get out more... not that he needed any more human contact than he already had, but if having dinner with another person was the most excitement in his life... he needed a bit more of one. Hopefully, he could repay the favor and maybe cook for them a bit. He had been getting the hang of it... he would, eventually. At least he had stopped burning things (including people, lololololol; no Ellie stop). He gave a slight smirk. "Okay, then that... that would be a bit different. I'd probably just freeze her toys then. Wouldn't want to encourage a female version of Hannibal."  Maybe he should start a baby sitting service or something. He had Art, Remus and Felicity had one on the way... gods. Trivia and Mercury, Neptune and Apollo, Pluto and Mars...all the thrilling power combos. He semi dreaded the day to come that Art figured he could possibly teleport and do magic. COMMENTARIUM: All good xD VERBA: 441

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Clare smiled to herself as he seemed taken aback by her calling him nice. Though honestly, she wished he didn’t look so off balance. He was nice. He should know that. He should own it. He said she was welcome and she had to smile. Until he continued and she was forced to outright laugh. Good old Edmund. “Your secret is safe. Is there a password I need to know to know who already knows it? Like ‘hail hydra’ and if they repeat it I can talk about your nice side?” she asked with a laugh.

Yes, cooking a big nice meal for a big group sounded splendid. She would go all out. Everyone would eat their fill and still go home with plenty of left-overs. It would be amazing! Oh, what a delight! Food, family, fun! Yes! Maybe they could play games. Or, well, with little ones involved, it would probably be more like watching those two play together. Oh, what if they did play together? How cute! Clare was getting giddy with excitement already. Oh, and pudding. She knew Christy, at least, loved finger food lie pudding and jello. Messy, but fun. Christy preferred banana. Usually Clare would put sliced bananas in the pudding for her daughter to dig out and naw on.

She laughed at his response to her comment on Christy’s approaching teething days. “Way to make it sound terrible, Ed! No, the trick is to refrigerate water-filled toys. I read it in a book.” She had a few already. One was just a ring. One was a fish. One orange, one blue. Both squishy and ready. Clare honestly wasn’t sure when teething started. She was a little nervous.

TAG: edmundsimons
WORDS: 283
NOTES: headache=not able to type long posts anymore

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that was t h e n  this is n o w Did Edmund consider himself to be a nice person? The thought had become a bit more entertainable over time. Three years ago? Three years ago he would have laughed in her face. Would have said she was out of her damn mind. No one could even justify calling him anything near "nice" back in his first cohort and Orthys days. He had been (and still was, to some extent) a grade A jerk. What could he say? He had learned all on his own. Self taught bad attitude... and he had to say, it was one of the only subjects he excelled in. It became addicting after a while. But then the stupid Quest had to come along and semi-wreck his perfect record. How dare they. He'd never forgive them, yet at the same time, he owed them everything. Everything from keeping him alive, to looking after him or for him, to keeping him grounded. Did they prevent some of his mass stupidity? Sometimes. He'd like to think he had gotten less impuslive and stupid. Some days that held up better than others. He had to give a slight smirk at her question. "Not a bad idea, but no. I'd like to keep the casualities small. Goodness knows taking about my different nature could induce a myocardial infarction." He was pretty sure a couple of people in the Legion could qualify to have one. Mostly out of extreme emotional or physical pain. He wasn't entirely sure of the eating habits of people around here. He knew his were poor in relation to how frequently and how much he ate. He supposed having Clare and Christy over would be nice. Exposure to more people. Semi-force him to sit down and actually eat... (hey, he had been getting a bit better though!). "I get paid well for it," he scoffed. Turning things horrible was a lucritive buisness! Huh, refridgerating water filled toys... He wondered if that's what Rhia had done for Art. Not like they had parents of their own to ask for advice, so books it was. Unless they were close to parents in New Rome. He gave a bit of a nod "I see... They sell parenting books around here?" VERBA: 370

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Clare let Christy play with her fingers, which were apparently the most entertaining thigs ever, as she joked with Edmund. She was rather enjoying this little chat. And the fact that he at least smirked at her suggestion was wonderful. It wasn’t a full smile, no, but it would due. Baby steps. She laughed when he dubbed it casualties like it was something huge and dangerous. Then he spoke of what it could induce and she wasn’t going to lie, but it was confusing. She didn’t want to admit she had no idea what he just said. However, being around Jason so long had helped her a bit and she could piece together the parts kind of. Myo made no sense, so she passed that. Cardial was dealing with the heart. Infraction… well, she couldn’t give you a Webter definition, but she knew enough to say it was bad. So perhaps he was just saying something like a smart-ified version of ‘heart attack’. She’d go with that, yes. “Well, for the sake of your sanity and your life, we shall avoid it.”

She had been joking entirely about him making it sound horrible, but then he said he got paid well for it in such an offhand tone that her jovialness turned to worry. Poor Edmund, he really did need friends, didn’t he? She reached a hand over and rested it on his shoulder. “I know things you’d be good at that pay much better.” Christy let out a massive yawn. Ah, to be young to be able to take naps all the time. Actually, Clare was guilty too. Since nights were dominated by random wake-ups to crying, she adopted Christy’s schedule. She’d give a part of her attention to want ads while Christy played and then, those happy times when she could get Christy to fall asleep for her regular naps, usually Clare would collapse on her bed or even the couch. Helped her have to spend less on under-eye puffiness reducer.

Clare laughed when he asked if there were parenting books. “There are so many incredible resources, actually. Jason and I took classes and we got books covering the stages all the way up to kindergarten. There’s a lot to know. But I found an author who does a good job with it and she’s very prolific. She actually even writes picture books that I read to Christy all the time.”

TAG: edmundsimons
WORDS: 403
NOTES: Sorry the delay! Muse was weeeeeeeird

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at no point leave me in charge of a small human more like a  g r e m l i n  Edmund had realized that watching children was not only a lot of work, but also rather entertaining. You'd give the kid a toy, only for them to play with the box it came in. People would douse them in toys, only all they really needed to have fun was their parent's face, fingers, various finger foods, and boxes. They reminded him of Jadis when she was a cub, only she didn't claw his face off (hey, maybe that would have been an improvement; they had to reconstruct the back of his legs, why not his face too?). Myocardial infarction... wow, he sounded like a pretentious snot, although it was mostly said in jest. He kind of hated that he knew what that was, blame his extended stay around medical personnel. When he was younger, he was actually curious as to some of the lingo and actually asked. Who knew it would still stick around in his brain years later? Big, adult words seemed to stick to kids who had nothing else to do but wait around. Watching TV day in and day out. Sounded like the dream of most kids. Not him. "No worries, my sanity has been pending ever since I was ten," he said lightly, dismissively. Everyone in the Legion was a degree off. Not that it was a bad thing; Edmund believed none of them would have survived this long if that wasn't been the case. As for his life... he had always been reckless with it before, why slow down now? Although, admittedly, he had somewhat lessened his stupidity level since getting captured by the government. Of course, many would consider meeting with a homicidal Felicity as reckless, but relative to all the other stunts he had pulled, meeting his friend in San Francisco paled in comparison. He looked over as she put her hand on his shoulder. Ah, physical contact... something he was still trying to accustom himself to. Not that he despised it; it was more getting used to it. Positively, that was. Still, he allowed her hand to linger. Clare seemed sweet, devoid of any ill intent. "Suppose that's what the Circus Maximus's for." Books... Yeah, parenting... he wondered if many of them still had any good role-models. Memories, of course, but how good were those, ten plus years expired? He never thought to ask Rhia and Josh what they had done to learn how to be parents, or if they had read books. Either way, Art seemed to be coming along fine. At least, he was alive and he didn't look as if he'd grow up to be a serial killer... yet. "I'd bet. Not that many of us have stellar examples to go off of," he said with a shrug. VERBA: 460

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I'm sorry. This thread is simply too old and I can't get into the mindset to reply.