MHA #8, Saturday morning

[stykera]

Aside from getting a bucket of ice water dumped on him at prom, the night had gone well for Stark. Honestly the ice had only led to a hasty retreat to the apartment building to remove wet clothing so frell you, Anakin. Three nights in a row had gone very well indeed for Stark.

Eventually he'd fallen asleep, though not before tossing water on a pair of amorous and very noisy raccoons on the balcony because he had to admit the water was a good way to momentarily redirect energy.

Between the pollen, finally finding some outlets for the affects of the pollen, and having been away from the island for so long before last summer, Stark had forgotten that mysterious children tended to appear after prom. Waking up with his head clear after a week of it being very much not hadn't led to remembering. Waking up with his head clear had just led to a few moments of mild panic wondering what the repercussions of the past 3 nights might be.

But there wasn't going to be time for Stark to get thoroughly awkward just yet. After showering he was making his way to the kitchen when he stopped. Who could possibly be knocking on his door this early? And why did it sound like someone was giggling in the hallway?


[Ooooopen, for some impossible children, any neighbors that might stop by as a result of impossible children, or one neighbor who could have stayed the night if she wanted but I'm not going to presume]

Comments

[glowyfacebabies]

"You're Papa's friend," Ziya said. "You can stay!" Someone had maybe spent too much time with Aunt Chiana lately and Aunt Chiana was going to love hearing about this!

"And you can tell me about flying the ship," she added to Lucia. "I've never flown any ships."

[offkeysong]

"Ein did most of the flying," Lucia shared modestly. "He's a dog we know."

Great, since that was clearly fascinating Faye was just going to try to pry this little monster's fingers off of her wrist, and -- "Wait a second, you know Ein?"

Oh, shit. No. No.

"Don't be dumb," Lucia replied, rolling her eyes. "Uncle Jet says you pretend to be dumber than you are a lot, Mom."

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

[glowyfacebabies]

"You have a dog?" Somehow that was briefly more exciting than flying a ship. "We don't have any pets. But Uncle John told me about dogs. He's from Earth," Ziya added. "Not like the rest of us. I only come here to visit."

Stark was just looking back and forth between Faye and the children.

This morning was going so strangely.

[offkeysong]

"We're not from Earth, either. Earth mostly blew up," Lucia shared helpfully, calmly maintaining her death grip on her mother even while Faye looked like she was on the verge of a panic attack. "And Ein's not our pet, really? But he is a dog."

This was the worst weekend, following the best week, and Faye was vaguely wondering if the child-punishment here was somehow meant to be proportional to the amount of sex she'd had this week. Because this was the worst thing that could have ever happened to her, easily.

[stykera]

Stark, for his part, was still trying to process the idea that the child he'd seen before, the one his other self had with the love of his life, was enjoying the idea that he'd spent the night with someone other than her mother.

He was also still trying to process the idea that this other child had somehow been fathered by both himself and Liam.

And the fact that Faye was apparently desperately trying to get as far away as possible.

There was a lot going on this morning. Too much.

"Can I pet the dog?" Réaltín asked.

[flourish_or_perish]

"He's not here," Lucia scoffed, shaking her head. "But he does like pets, even if he's not a pet, 'cause Dad says he's smarter than Mom."

Which honestly was probably true, even accepting the fact that Faye acted like an idiot on purpose most of the time.

"You have to stop saying 'Dad' and 'Mom,'" Faye pleaded, drawing her free hand up to her temple to try to stave off a headache.

"That's your name."

"What's yours?" Faye countered, because she might as well know.

"Lucia Valentine-Spiegel."

Yep. Don't mind the look of open disgust that Faye was now sporting. Lucia was, at least, used to it.

[glowyfacebabies]

"Hi Lucia! I'm Ziya," Ziya piped up. "And that's Réaltín." Réaltín waved, still a little disappointed there wasn't going to be a dog to pet. "And," she patted Stark's arm gently, "our father, Stark."

[offkeysong]

"Hello," Lucia said solemnly, addressing all three of them. "My mom's name is Faye and my dad isn't here. He's with the dog."

Just while everyone was explaining things.

"I don't think they were expecting us," she added in something like a whisper.

[stykera]

"You were a surprise," Stark confirmed. "All three of you."

He thought it was a pleasant surprise, though the timing could have been improved slightly.

"You say that a lot," Réaltín informed him. "That I was a surprise."

[flourish_or_perish]

"Sometimes kids are surprises." Faye found her voice and could at least offer something of an explanation to the little girl. It wasn't especially patient or helpful, but it was something besides standing there in shock. "Sometimes more surprising than others."

Like when they appeared as fully-formed elementary schoolers, for example. Or when they were biologically impossible for one reason or another.

[glowyfacebabies]

"Papa was very surprised the first time he met me," Ziya confirmed. "He said impossible so many times."

Stark opened his mouth to protest but then just shrugged. She was right, but she was impossible in this reality.

"I surprised him too!" Réaltín crowed. "When I told him who my other Dad is!"

[offkeysong]

"Other dad?" Lucia asked, looking very intrigued by this.

"You're impossible, too," Faye added, which was a normal thing to just informatively tell a child, nice. "Like, never happening."

Lucia responded by blowing a raspberry in a way that really, honestly, just made her seem more like Faye.

[glowyfacebabies]

"I have two Dads," Réaltín said proudly. Because it was cool! Two glowy Dads! "Haven't seen my other one yet today but he must be here somewhere. His name is Liam."

Stark was just going to not look at anyone right now. At least the pollen had passed and he could stop himself from vividly imagining how that might have occurred, anyway.

[flourish_or_perish]

"Oh, I know your dad." Sexy Short-Date Sheriff, yes. Faye was really good at remembering law enforcement-adjacent faces. "Your other dad."

Obviously she knew this one. Obviously.

"I only have one dad but I have a uncle," Lucia offered carefully, trying to find a similarity here. "He has a metal arm."

Which had nothing to do with anything except that it was pretty cool.

[glowyfacebabies]

"I know them too," Réaltín informed Faye seriously. Obviously. "But I don't know you!" Aside from how they'd just been introduced.

"I have uncles on Moya," Ziya said. It was a whole weird Technicolor alien family up there. "No metal arms."

"Metal arms sound cool," Réaltín said.

[offkeysong]

"I want a Moya," Lucia decided plaintively. "...what's a Moya?"

She still wanted it, but this would be good information to have as well.

[glowyfacebabies]

"Moya is home," Ziya explained. "She's a Leviathan. A big living ship. Is your ship alive?"

[flourish_or_perish]

"The Bebop isn't alive," Lucia said, sounding very sure about that but still looking up to Faye for confirmation.

"No. Neither is the Red Tail." She better damn well still have her own ship in this timeline. "Or the Swordfish." Ugh, the less she thought about that, the better.

Faye glanced over at Stark. "This is so weird," she said, a little helplessly. At least she'd stopped being openly miserable, so that was nice.

[stykera]

"We live in a very strange place," Stark said. "Though I like this weirdness better than some other varieties. It was very surprising the first time."

[flourish_or_perish]

"Yes, it is," Faye agreed, since that was her life right now. "I don't even talk to her father anymore."

Nor would she ever -- in a million years -- do anything with him that might produce a child. Please. He wished.

[stykera]

"That doesn't seem to matter, here. Ziya's mother..." Stark reached out a hand to the impossible blue girl, who snuggled into his side because she knew he got sad and that would help. "Her mother died. But not there. And as for Réaltín...Liam and I. We've never. And we're both...I don't know..."

Liam was his friend and Liam was married and neither one of them seemed built for producing children, but she did look a bit like both of them and he had no idea what was happening there.

[flourish_or_perish]

"So it's just...idea children. Imaginary children. Hypothetical."

The child swinging on her arm hard enough that Faye felt like her arm might rip out of its socket certainly didn't feel hypothetical.

[glowyfacebabies]

"Different timelines, different realities," Ziya corrected her. "Not imaginary!"

"They're real," Stark said. "Just not from this reality."

"I'm real real," Réaltín said, a little indignantly.

[flourish_or_perish]

"You're right," Faye said, actually feeling a little bad about that. "You're both very real, I'm sorry."

Lucia gave her arm another hard yank, and Faye yelped. "Fine, you are too." Somewhere. "You're all kinda cute, at least."

You know, for children.

[stykera]

"They are," Stark agreed. "All three of them. Very cute. Very real."


"Very hungry" Réaltín grumbled.