projectroxas | (no subject)

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[ it's after his meet-up with his supervisor that he gets a call from robin to babysit alice. of course he says 'yes' -- he has nothing planned for the day & would never consciously turn down time with his niece. & like he told robin before, more free air should do him some good; who knows, if he's feeling better in mind, the body might follow. (he didn't really believe that since the damage from the accident has been said to be absolute, but a little bit of feigned hope wasn't too heavy to carry around.)

that's the context to their current scenario: at the park with alice, doing whatever she wants until it's time for lunch & ice cream. time with uncle nick is the time to get spoiled, so he doesn't worry too much about feeding her nutritional things; he's pretty sure his ~~mom~~ sis has that covered anyway. ]

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[ rests his chin into the palms of his hands, propping himself up while tilting a little to watch her draw some more. ]

She's beautiful.

[ head jerks upward, back to lyssa. the usual words are on her lips when she thinks she's in the conversation: ]

I am five years old!

[ gasps, pretending to look surprised. ]

No way! I could have sworn that you were older!

[ shakes her head, pointing over at nick. ]

He is older. He is ten plus another number!

[ eyes flicker to nick briefly, amused. but they go back to alice and focus on her instead, raising both of his hands. ]

More than this?

[ looks up, putting down the pencil to raise her own hands. looks back and forth between them... then puts them up against lyssa's. ]

Like this, I think...

[ nods, wiggling the fingers one of his hands. ]

This is five. [ wiggles the other. ] And this is five. How many do you have on your hands?

[ blinks, tilting her head at her hands. copies him. ]

I have five... and five...

[ pulls his hands back so she can look at them properly. wiggles the fingers on both his hands. ]

How many fingers do I have on both of my hands?

Ten! [ bounces a little. ] People have ten fingers!

[ beams, nodding excitedly. ]

That's right! Good job! [ presses their hands together again. ] Since I have ten fingers, that means you have ten fingers, too. So when we put them together, we have twenty fingers!

[ looks awed and amazed at this new fact, pulling away to look down at her hands... then lifts her hands up to nick. ]

Uncle, uncle! If we put our hands together we have tuh-- tuh-wen-tee fingers!

[ places his hands against hers like lyssa did to complete the set, smiling helplessly at her antics. ]

Make sure to show your mom later, okay? You're going to amaze her.

[ nods and leans over to push her face into nick's side, rubbing her nose there affectionately before picking up her pencil to start drawing again. ]

[ while he keeps quiet for a moment, just letting her do her thing until an idea pops in his head. ]

Oh! [ reaches over to his messenger bag, pulling out a case of colored pencils to show it to alice. ] Would you like to color your picture?

[ again, the sparkles come forth. lifts her hands up towards the case. ]

Yes, please!

[ laughs and opens it for her, handing it on over. as she's picking out some colors he finally turns to nick again. ]

Did you teach her how to draw?

[ leans back against the bench to watch alice. gaze goes briefly to lyssa at the question & then shakes his head. ]

Nah. Talent's all hers.

[ hums in a considering noise, as if second-guessing him. instead of one of his typical remarks: ]

Babysitting for the day, then? Sounds like fun. I love babysitting my cousins, they're always full of surprises.

[ raises an eyebrow at that. not many people, nevertheless teenagers, like babysitting for free. which only leads to one conclusion really. ]

Good kids?

They're angels! [ turns to face nick more, looking rather excited to be able to ~~brag~~ talk about his ~~babies~~ cousins. ] There are the twins, my aunt Danielle's children. Sometimes they can be a handful, but they're really sweet deep down inside. And my other aunt, Nathania, has a daughter around Alice's age. She's absolutely adorable!

[ listens to the yammer with his typical impatience, nodding here and there. ]

You get to see them often?

[ nods, eyes going back to alice('s coloring) again. ]

As often as possible.

Lives close by?

Nathania and her husband do. [ smiles faintly and shrugs a bit, lightly kicking at the leaves under his feet. ] Danielle's place is further away, since she owns horses.