punted | back in the day (when rap wasn't horrible)

Seven is pretty big, you know. Seven is old enough to count cards with Daddy and learn about tells and stay up late with his friends while Mama is sleeping with a bottle in her hand. Seven is old enough to go to school and make friends that don't know what poker is and have moms that remember to pack lunches every day! Seven is old enough to know that Daddy isn't coming back and this new man, who yells and slams things and says bad words, can never take his place.

Seven is big, but Kenzi's still little.

She can still hear Mama and the man downstairs yelling at each other no matter how tightly she presses her hands to her ears. She's already given up trying to get the closet open. It's locked from the outside! Maybe... if she was bigger... she could figure out how to break the lock and get out and help Mama, but she's still small. She doesn't know how to break a lock. Even if she did, it's too dark to see. Too dark and too loud. But she's tough! It doesn't make her cry anymore.

She's used to it by now.

As Kenzi hides, curled up in the closet, a strange blue light is visible along the bottom edge of the door. It flickers faintly, at first, but grows stronger as it approaches. A soft, quiet hum accompanies it, almost like the ringing sound of crystal.

After a moment, when the shouting intensifies, the light starts to move under the door...

If she had been crying, which she totally wasn't, but if she was, even just a little bit, that would have stopped it. Weird lights can only mean one of two things; aliens or boogeymen. Either of those things would make any kid ignore the rapid, Russian phrases and the sounds of stuff crashing to the floor.

The light is just bright enough for her to find the plush teddy bear by her feet. She grabs onto it's little, furry arm and-- WHACKS the light coming through the space under the door repeatedly and as hard as she possibly can! Like hell is she getting abducted or eaten! Eat bear, you glowy, blue stuff!

Well shit. The light dissipates into what almost looks like glitter, scattering, and it bounces about the small space before collecting back into one little ball of light the presence is supposed to be calming -- look, it's unthreatening. The blue light bounces slightly midair, trailing a light blue fire.

Calming? Aliens aren't calming! You can't just calm a little girl that essentially lives on a diet of juiceboxes, bologna, and candy with some light that does cool tricks!

Kenzi's definitely not calm. But she's entranced! She lifts the bear again in warning, scooting a bit closer and kneeling under it between a couple pairs of shoes. She lowers the bear at the bouncing, opting instead to reach out with her free hand to poke at it while whispering, "You're kinda small for an alien."

The light disappears when she touches it, leaving behind that ringing hum, and for a second, there's nothing -- until a presence seems to settle into the back of the cramped, pitch dark closet.

"An alien, you say?"

WHAT!? Kenzi pitches forward, pressing herself against the door so she can throw a shoe at whatever just said that!

"Don't eat my brains!" Someone's been staying up too late watching scary movies when they should have been in bed.

Ow. The shoe definitely pings off his face. Nice aim.

"I definitely don't have a taste for brains." He sounds amused. "Too stringy. Are you okay?"

Thanks! Okay, so whoever is in this closet with her doesn't eat brains and doesn't sound scary. Yet. But she puffs right up at the accusation that she'd be anything but okay right now! Hands on her hips, looking as big as she can, "Yeah! Why wouldn't I be?"

Something smashes downstairs and shatters followed by another loud shout and the sound of the door slamming. Kenzi winces and maybe crawls a little closer to the back of the closet. "...Who are you?"

Findlay frowns at the slamming door, but even moreso at Kenzi's reaction. Kids shouldn't go through this, and the certainly shouldn't be locked in closets.

"I'm a friend. I heard you were scared and came to check on you."

"I'm not scared!" She's very, very scared. But it's less scary than it usually gets! And he hasn't come back upstairs yet. It might just be one of those days where she falls asleep up here until her mama remembers to let her back out. Unless her mama was the one who slammed the door...

"Do you know how to break a lock?"

"You know, I just might." He wouldn't want to get her in more trouble for being found outside the closet, but it seems like the fighting has stopped for now, so maybe if she just goes straight to bed, no one will notice. There's the sound of shifting in the back of the closet as he scooches forward. "Have you ever picked a lock before?"

"No!" Kenzi bounces excitedly on her knees at the prospect. He might know how to do it! He might be able to let her out! And if he could show her, she could let herself out and not have to stay in here and not try to ask the scary witch to come and help! Because as scary as things get, the witch is too scary and Kenzi doesn't want to have to resort to that. Yet.

"Have you? Can you? Will you do it?!"

"I can, but you have to go straight to bed, alright?" There's a shuffling noise as he digs in his coat pocket for a pin, and then by the closet doorknob, one of those wisps appears again, followed by another. They don't give off too much light, but it's enough to see by -- and to see his hands as he leans forward.

"You'll have to watch closely. This is tricky."

"Okay!" Her voice is whispery because this is super important. She leans close, lightly holding onto Finn's sleeve for balance as she strains to get a view from a good angle.

She's just going to ignore that 'straight to bed' part because how could she possibly sleep after this? Someone is here! Someone is paying attention to her and teaching her things and saving her from the dumb closet and he's pretty cool for a grownup! Or an alien. She knows he said he was a friend, but she can be friends with aliens!

"Alright. Here..."

He's quiet about it, but as carefully and clearly as he can, Findlay demonstrates how to pick the closet lock cleanly and easily. When the pin is in position, ready to turn, he lets go, shifts over so Kenzi can step in. It's hands-on teaching! "Just give it a turn, counter-clockwise. That's backwards to the way a clock goes. You'll see, it's easy."

The two lights bob up and down a little, and seem to give an encouraging little hum.

Wow, is he really gonna let her-- oh man. Oh wow! She gets to do it?! Really? This is amazing! This is so exciting! She takes the pin and has to stop and think for a second, but only a second, about which way a clock goes, and then she turns it opposite just like he said! There's a click and Kenzi gasps, fascinated.

"Did I do it?" It sounds like she did it! Pulling the pin out, and handing it back, she reaches up with both hands to twist the doorknob! It opens! She looks at the two little lights and smiles at them before smiling up at Finn, "Let's go!"

Because the door is open and it's quiet and he is going to come and see her room with her because she wants to show him all her cool stuff and then they can jump on the bed and not go to sleep! She snatches up her bear and grabs Finn's fingers to pull him out into the hall.

She seems so excited, despite having just been locked in a closet, and that certainly makes him smile. Normally, this would be his cue to leave, now that she's going back to her room and everything is quiet, but he can't disappear on her just yet. So, silently, he lets her lead him along, stopping once they enter her bedroom, and that's where he stops, hovering in the doorway. It's past your bedtime, Kenzi.

"Well done," he reassures her quietly. "I think it's a little late, though. You don't want anyone to know you're up, do you?"

Of course she's excited! A little thing like childhood trauma has never gotten her down before! Finn stops, but Kenzi goes straight for her toys! She sets Ziggy the bear down on the bed and brings Finn two of her power rangers and the weird, spiky-haired barbie with marker scribbles on her face and no clothes on and also this shiny rock, ooh, he'd like that a lot! Just gonna bring all this stuff over and hold it up high so he can see it!

"It's not late! It's still so early! No one will know. I'll be quiet, I promise! We can quiet-jump-on-bed and quiet-legos and quiet-colouring! You can even be the red ranger!" Kenzi looks up at him from behind the pile of toys in her arms and frowns. She's trying not to look desperate. She's trying not to look sad! "You just got here. Don't go."

Oh no, what has he done? He should know better than to actually show himself, by now; his aim is to help, but not get attached, and certainly not let them get attached. The poor girl is probably starved for attention. He doesn't want to let her down, but at the same time, it would be cruel to get her hopes up about making a new friend.

Findlay sighs quietly to himself and brushes at the end of his nose. Decision time. "I can't stay long, but how would you like a story, instead? I can read one, if you like." A wisp appears not far from where he's standing, bounces midair.

A STORY?! Oh. My. God. Kenzi's jaw drops, along with all the toys in her hands, and she just stares. This is even more exciting than all the other stuff! And there's another blue little friend, oooooh look at it! She bounces a little more along with the floating, blue wisp before kissing it and running to her book case before Finn changes his mind!

She searches for her most current favourite and bounces over to, and then onto the bed. All set! Book in hand! She holds it towards Finn, raising those little eyebrows expectantly. "This one! This one, please." MANNERS AND EVERYTHING! She must really want him to read 'The monster at the end of this book.'

Perfect, no feelings disasters tonight, and he's pretty pleased with the enthusiasm for reading. Findlay waits for her to pick out a book, stepping further into the room, and when she offers it up, he takes it in hand and looks it over. Ah, this one -- he's seen it in bookstores. It's cute.

"Ahh, good choice." He smiles, nods towards her tiny bed, and the wisp bounces over in that direction. "Why don't you hop into bed, and I'll give this a read."

Kenzi makes a face and gets all under the covers with a pout. She's not sure if this is a trick or not! What if he decides to leave while she's not watching and she's all tucked in and can't chase after him? But he's still there when she looks up again, still holding the book. That's a good sign. She is so freakin ready for this! YEAH STORIES! Yeah!

"Do you know any muppets in real life?"

She'll just have to trust that it's not a trick! Look, though: he's still here, and once she gets all snuggled up, he sits politely at the edge of the bed, one wisp appearing by the book like a reading light. He opens the cover, and the light grows a tiny bit brighter.

"You know, I think I met the one in the trashcan once," he admits, smiling a little. underfae in the garbage, monster in the garbage, same thing. "Comfy?"

That gets a giggle. Garbage monsters! This guy is funny. She likes him.

Kenzi nods at the question, snuggling right into her pillow and already fighting to keep her eyes open. No way is she gonna miss this! No way in heck! But her eyelids are heavy, despite the excitement and hyperactive bouncing of a few moments ago, and she'll probably conk out halfway through the book.

Before he starts, she has one more question! "Are you gonna come back?"

He turns another page, to the actual beginning of the book, and is about to start when she asks. For the thousandth time, tonight, part of him is regretting letting her see him outside of wisp form; no matter what he says, he's going to end up with a sad and possibly disillusioned little girl.

"I don't know for sure," he says at length, looking up from the book. "I travel all over the world, and do you know what?" Findlay pauses for effect. "I'm actually breaking a lot of rules, right now." He glances to the side, then back at Kenzi, and whispers conspiratorially: "You're not supposed to see me."

At least he's being honest. At least he isn't telling her he'll come back when she has a pretty good feeling that he won't.

But her eyes get all wide at the whisper. It's a secret! A really cool secret and he's breaking rules and it makes her feel special. She doesn't get that feeling a lot. So she shifts the tiniest bit closer and decides that it's okay if he doesn't come back, because he showed up in the first place! And he taught her how to let herself out of a scary place. And maybe things will be just a little bit better when he leaves.

"I won't tell. Promise!" She can be sneaky. Very sneaky! The most sneaky. "Okay, okay, read the story! I don't got all day!" And that was the tiniest eyeroll of all time.

Sheesh, what a cute kid, and what a relief. Findlay smiles, and the light from the wisp pulses a little brighter, as if prompting him to get going, itself. So he settles, clears his throat, and starts to read, holding the book open so Kenzi can see the pictures as he goes.

He's a good storyteller, but as he notices Kenzi starting to pass out, he quiets down, tones down the expressiveness and lets her drift off as he nears the end of the story.

Edited 2013-11-14 04:52 (UTC)

She's sleeping soundly before they ever find out who the monster at the end of the book is. Looking at the floaty, little blue guy made her extra sleepy. There's a sound of clattering glass coming from another room, but she doesn't stir. There's even a small smile on her face!

Her bed is a lot more comfortable than the closet floor. Even in her sleep, she's grateful. And she'll be grateful in the morning, too. But by the next evening, she won't be sure if she imagined it all, or it really happened. In a few years, she won't remember it at all. The only thing she will remember... is how to stick pins into a lock and jiggle it around until you hear a click. And if she ever meets another 'alien', she'd definitely want to be friends with it.

back in the day (when rap wasn't horrible)

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