milliways_bar | (no subject)

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*Meg is sitting at a table in the bar, engaged in several tasks:

a.) attempting to feed the baby in her arms with some sort of pureed baby food, provided by the bar

b.) keeping said baby from wiggling off her lap to go exploring under the tables

and c.) rather frantically paging through a book on child care in front of her, whenever Derry stops squirming long enough to allow her to use one of her arms.

Derry, meanwhile, is engaged in one task: becoming the universe's foremost artist in the medium of pureed baby food.

Hey, everyone needs to have a dream.*

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Not mine, *Meg says, hastily, lest there be any misunderstandings here.*

She's my cousin. Derry. Derry, say hi -

*Derry throws some mashed carrots.

Which is probably the equivalent.*

The carrots would hit him in the face, but he's quick and ducks.

And, because Derry started it, he scoops up a bit of the mashed carrot and puts it on Derry's nose.

What?

He had lots of cousins, once. They loved that.

*Derry giggles, in a gleeful fashion; for the next few moments, she remains occupied in poking at her own nose.

Meg, meanwhile, maintains her long-suffering air, and says,* Salut, Smeagol.

Smeagol wipes the remains of the carrot on his jacket and grins.

"Other than stained, how are you?"

I'm - handling, *Meg says, brightly.*

Also kind of glad that I will never get pregnant - how 'bout you?

A fleeting glimpse of horror crosses Smeagol's face.

"I've always been glad of that."

*That gets a giggle.*

- well, I meant in general, but for specifics I think you're very wise on that one -

*Mischievously:* Though your kids would be kind of cute.

The fleeting horror returns and decides to hang around for dinner.

They would be all tiny! *Meg adds, helpfully.* And curly-headed!

Derry, you agree, right?

*Derry's banging on the table could, to an enlightened mind, constitute a 'yes'.*

Plop! goes Smeagol's forehead into his hand.

"Maybe if the world was especially unlucky."

Parenthood is a good experience, *Meg says, blithely hypocritical.*

Teaches responsibility.

"I don't need to be responsible - and anyway, won't happen. Dead, remember?"

- okay, point, *Meg concedes, then brightens again.*

You could adopt!

Smeagol gives Meg another Look.

Wouldn't the kid have been traumatized enough already?

Derry takes advantage of the momentary silence to lob her stuffed frog in the direction of Smeagol.

Desire isn't the only one who can be tormented by this.

The frog hits him in the face. ~~IT WAS OUT FOR VENGEANCE.~~ Smeagol goes "oof!"

"Anyway, that's a two-person job. And I don't think I could even count as one. I'm not exactly suitable."

He lobs the frog back at Derry.

But gently. He still remembers his loads of cousins.

*Better than a boxing kangaroo!*

I still say don't give up on a second person yet, *Meg offers, encouragingly.* We may get a nice hobbit girl in here yet - and in terms of suitability, you're much more suitable than at least three-quarters of the parents of kids I knew at home.

*. . . which isn't saying much, but still.

Derry, meanwhile, makes an AMAZING MIDAIR CATCH.

- or, you know, hits the frog and sends it falling back in the other direction.*

"Meg, I'm not right! I still . . . I see things, know things. Hear them. I'm wrong up here," he says, tapping his head for emphasis. "No one wants that."

He sounds a lot more exhasperated than anything else.

- okay, at the risk of sounding cliched here, *Meg says,* you maybe wrong up here -

*She takes the bold risk of letting go of Derry for a second, to tap her own head -*

But you're doing pretty okay, here.

*Another tap, a little below the neck, and to the left.*

You wouldn't hit a kid - or use them to make money - or ignore them. Right?

"If I had one, it'd probably be better off if I did."

*Meg shakes her head, vehemently; and Derry shakes her head, too (and takes the opportunity to grab onto one of Meg's curls.)*

Look - I've never been a parent - and I'll never be a parent - but like I said. I've seen lots of 'em.

There's a lot of things you can do wrong in raising kids - but if you don't hurt them, and you love them, and you try - well, I mean, you're a giant step ahead, right?

*A small grin.*

- I mean, Dieu, my dad's Desire - and hesheit isn't exactly what you'd think of as great parent material, if you didn't know much about himherit - but hesheit's doing pretty bloody good of late, I think.

*Except of course when it comes to Derry-omelettes.*

"Doesn't matter."

Smeagol shrugs. He isn't looking at Meg.

"I've got a house, right? I've mostly got my head to myself. I'm fine this way."

Once you're lonely for long enough, you forget that you are.

You've got friends, too, *Meg reminds him, lest he forget; she's watching him, carefully.*

And you never know what'll happen - ow ow Derry let go of that -

"Yeah. That's enough."

Nevermind the nightmares, or the paranoia, or the dread of whispers - but that's always been there.

Almost absentmindedly, he scoops up a bit more mashed carrot and deposits it on Derry's nose, and blows on her face.

He had a second-cousin twice-removed once, who laughed every time anybody did that to her.

But you had to smile too, so he does that. Because, after all, babies are good for that sort of thing.

*If Smeagol was hoping for laughter - well, Derry doesn't disappoint.

Derry laughs a lot. It's one of the things that goes along with having the personification of insanity as a mother.*

Being content with what you've got, *Meg offers,* is a pretty good way to go through life. Or afterlife. Whatever.

But it's kind of nice to have - you know, dreams and goals and all, too.