Victoria Cadwallader (beavertails) wrote in valesco,
@ 2011-05-30 18:08:00

Entry tags:

Who: Victoria, Ava, Katie and Ian
What: Both of them are having problems with this 'parenting' thing. It's like a pow-wow parents' meeting.
Where: Jubilee Gardens, London
When: Noon-ish of the 30th.

It had become painfully obvious in the past few days that while she had been excited for trying the whole 'parenting' thing on for size, she was not very good at it. Ava had in the last 72 hours: peed on her shoes, punched her in the eye, and thrown her dinner plate out the window (and onto some very disgruntled people walking past, from the sounds of things immediately afterward). How had she been expected to know that Ava liked her apple slices cut in half? It had been a very frustrating meal -- she wasn't sure what she might've done if her brother hadn't stepped in to give her a break after the meal. Parenting a child that you hadn't had from birth was certainly a two-person job, and even though Scott was an annoying brat most of the time, she supposed that he had his uses. He'd helped her wrangle Ava into her jumper this morning, after all.

Victoria glanced down to the seemingly innocent two-year old holding her hand, managing to force out a smile for the girl. Ava had been better this morning after she'd caught Victoria sniffling over her cereal. She'd hugged onto her leg and told her not to be sad - Victoria doubted the girl fully understood why she'd been upset, but it had been a nice gesture anyway.

"So, I actually brought you here for a special treat today," she said as they rounded the corner toward the park, "we're going to meet another little girl!" And her father, but she figured that Ava probably wouldn't care much about meeting Ian Bell. She'd been born into a Quidditch family, meeting another Quidditch player was just ... boring. It was a shame she wasn't friends with any clowns.

Ava looked warily up to her, and Victoria gave the girl's hand a firmer squeeze. She'd been reading that it would be easier to get Ava to stop being such a brat all the time if she started to give her choices. "Before we meet up with them, you can have a snack - would you like oyster crackers, or apple sauce?" Victoria pulled her bag out to the side, rummaging through the sack while she waited for Ava's answer. Hopefully she'd be visible to Ian a mile away; there weren't many other parents at the park just yet.

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gimmeabell
2011-05-30 10:21 pm UTC (link)

"Papa! Look at it!"

Ian pinched the bridge of his nose in between two fingers before turning in the direction of the small voice behind him. A couple meters back back, the blonde toddler who had previously been at his heels was now bent over at the waist at the roots of a tree, hands reaching out dangerously towards something squirming on the ground in dirt and mud. He opened his mouth to warn her against touching strange things, but by the time his half-hearted demand was out, Katie had already grasped the writhing earthworm in her tiny fist and presented it to him proudly.

Sighing, he held out his hand and beckoned for her to come back over. "Good job, K, now let me see that," he coaxed her--not that it was needed, as the little girl seemed more than happy to show off her trophy. While she was busy smearing the dirt on her hands over the legs of her jumper--at least he hadn't been silly enough to have her wear a dress this time--he quickly disposed of the poor creature and snatched her closest hand before she could digress again.

It had already taken them five minutes to get halfway across the park with the way she kept finding something new (and messy) to get into. She was not going to get the chance to do it again, especially not now that he finally spotted Victoria just meters away.

Beginning to protest against his hold on her, Ian swooped Katie up into his arms and tossed a wave at his fellow Quidditch player, jogging over before the squirming toddler could writhe free. When he had reached his destination, he finally set the little girl down in front of the child who he assumed was the Ava that Victoria had talked about.

"Look, Katie, this is Ava. Why don't you guys play a little?" he said, kneeling down to her level before turning his head to Victoria. "Sorry she's a mess already. I seriously don't know how she manages to do this between the Floo and here."

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beavertails
2011-05-30 10:34 pm UTC (link)

Well, all right. At least Ian couldn't fault her for the fact that Ava had somehow managed to get cracker crumbs all down her front in the few minutes it had taken her to devour the small handful that she'd given to the girl. She shrugged her shoulders and gave him an easy smile.

"Oh, trust me - I have no room to say anything in that department at all. I didn't even know that we had a leftover can of paint from when we re-did the walls in the living room until Ava managed to find it and dump it all over the carpets," she said with a half-laugh. That was about the time that he mother had insisted on sending her one of her siblings to make things a little easier on her.

She let Ava wander over to the other girl. Ava seemed to be more interested in why she was muddy than anything else, chatting to her in a squeaky, excited voice about what she'd found in the mud before.

"At least the girls seem to be getting along. I think Ava is just happy to spend time with someone who doesn't look like me." Scott definitely looked like her. What she really thought was that Ava wanted to see Vinny and was acting out about it, but she -- didn't want to pressure him into doing anything he wasn't ready for. If she invited him over and he wasn't ready for Ava, the whole thing would be a disaster. That was just not something she wanted to have to fix later.

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gimmeabell
2011-05-30 11:02 pm UTC (link)

Ian chuckled, taking notice of the other girl and the elated look on Katie's face as she described her wormy friend from a few minutes ago. Since everything had happened with Liz and... all of that mess that he didn't care to describe... things had been less than normal in their household in more ways than one. A lot of the time, that meant that Mummy and Daddy had been so wrapped up in trying to take care of their quickly collapsing marriage and getting back Liz's lost memories that taking Katie out to see friends had fallen on the back burner.

It was painful to think anything could put his daughter on the back burner, or that he could let anything do that (especially now that he knew how useless it all had been), but he was trying to make it up nowadays. He was doing his best to focus entirely on his daughter this off-season, that was what he had promised himself. She was effectively all he had left of Liz, and he was effectively all she had left in a real parent--they had to stick together and he had to do his best for her to make her life normal again.

To think she had a new friend was a small accomplishment to write down in the Daddy Book. It was one step at a time.

"Well, if she's half as messy as Katie is, I think they'll be good mates," he commented, leaning back to sit down in the grass. "My mum always tells me her rambunctious nature is divine payback for all the trouble I gave her as a kid."

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beavertails
2011-05-30 11:12 pm UTC (link)

Once Victoria was sure that Ava wasn't going to do anything silly like try to push her supposed new friend into a hole or something, she relaxed a little herself and took a seat next to Ian on the grass cross-legged, picking up a stray blade between her fingers to fiddle with.

Whenever she had her doubts about Ava, she had to remind herself that the girl had already had to deal with the loss of her parents. It was a hard thing to explain to a two-year old that her mommy and daddy weren't going to be coming to get her and that she'd be staying with Victoria for the rest of her life - she felt guilty that she hadn't been able to find the right words to make the girl understand. Ava was still pretty sure that any day now her parents were going to come and get her.

"I think I was pretty well-behaved as a kid. We didn't really have too much time to fool around between school and working on the farm, though, I guess. Maybe I should move to a farm. Might cramp my quidditch style out here, though." She shrugged. "My mum seems to think this is the world's way of trying to get me to settle down."

It seemed to be working so far, to be fair.

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gimmeabell
2011-05-31 12:06 am UTC (link)

"I definitely wasn't," he said with a shake of his head. "Between my sister and I and all the millions of ways we found to torture and harass each other throughout our childhood, my parents had their hands full." He chuckled lightly, eyes set on Katie although he was still engaged in converstaion with Victoria. "Liz's parents said she was like that too. I guess K's just got it double in her."

He hadn't meant to mention Liz, but it had come out of his mouth before he knew it. After all, even when she was gone she was still somehow everywhere in his life. He couldn't lay eyes on Katie and not see her, not think about her. After so many months he still hadn't learned out how to block out those thoughts, and sometimes he wondered if he ever would. It was devestating--so devestating to have so many thoughts and memories and so much love for someone who had to struggle to not be entirely indifferent in return. It was almost masochistic in a way, he thought, but if he had somehow known a way to forget about Liz the way she'd forgotten about him, he would have done it months ago.

Attempting to move away from the topic he'd brought up as casually as possible, Ian made an awkward shrug and smirk back to Victoria. "Ah, so... Interesting stuff going on with your team lately. What insider secrets can you tell me?"

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beavertails
2011-05-31 12:15 am UTC (link)

She snorted. "I'm not exactly on the up-and-up with all the rest of team's managers. Since I'm -- well, since I was one of the newest members, I didn't really get much of a say in what was going to go on. I guess they just felt like Maggie didn't bring enough aggression to the team." Victoria had never really gotten very close with Maggie, but she was sure that this sort of sudden trade (while she was in Portugal, no less) would upset the woman.

If Victoria noticed the way that he looked as he thought about Liz, she pointedly ignored it. It was none of her business as far as she was concerned, and she didn't want him to get the wrong idea about why she'd come to meet him here. "They seem to be getting on pretty well," she commented, watching Ava dump a handful of sand down the front of her shirt.

"I guess she's going to need a bath when we get home." At least Scott would be able to help her out with that one - Ava seemed to like him well enough. He was good with kids that way -- not so good with adults, sure, but good with kids.

"As far as the team goes, I can only tell you what I see from my end - the communication has been going downhill, I think. It didn't hurt us this season, but next season it just might. Especially with another new player to contend with."

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gimmeabell
2011-05-31 12:44 am UTC (link)

Ian nodded seriously, sighing a breath of relief on the inside for Victoria's lack of acknowledgement on the subject of his ex-wife. Not that he imagined she would explore it--it wasn't like they were close or anything--but any time someone didn't want to talk about Liz with him lately was like a godsend. After all, he was friends with none of the press and they all felt like they were allowed to ask him every question under the sun about his tumultuous personal life.

One eye on Katie, who was now on her back, rolling in the dirt and giggling at Ava's display of sandy humor, Ian leaned back on the palms of his hands and sighed. A bath was an understatement. He never knew until recently how much bathing went into the care of a toddler.

"Yeah, that's tough." He frowned. "No communication and the team falls apart. I remember when I first joined up the the United--too many strong personalities and we all fought like cats and dogs..." Ian let out a light laugh, reminiscence flashing across his face. "It gets better, though. Maybe not next season, but in two seasons, three seasons, it'll get better..."

Breaking, he tilted his head towards her with a knowing smirk. "Then again, with Wadcock around, you may be in pretty deep shit."

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beavertails
2011-05-31 12:52 am UTC (link)

Three seasons was a long time to wait - she had a feeling that the Magpies manager was hoping to push two wins in a row with the team. It was an admirable goal, but not one that was going to be easy with their team the way it was right now. She nodded.

"That's pretty much the problem, I think. Odette and Seth seem to have finally stopped going at each others' throats, though, so that's something." She just wasn't sure that would be enough to keep the team together. She had no real negative feelings toward Seth since he had apparently missed the majority of his jackassery - she did think that his girlfriend was pretty cute, though. She shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know very much about Seth. I know that he's kind of strange, but I guess I missed most of his craziness." Henry would fill her in if she asked really nicely, she was sure, but now that he had several successful clients he might not have time for chit-chat.

She bit her lip. "I'm just used to my team back home still. It'll take a few more seasons to really get into the groove here -- and to get used to not taking the subspace highways for things."

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gimmeabell
2011-05-31 01:28 am UTC (link)

A quick laugh came out almost as a snort before Ian could control it. He couldn't really help it--after all, one of those Extremely Strong Personalities he had mention was Seth himself. "Well, I guess be glad that you passed by most of it," he said. "Although usually he's only mean to the new recruits, and usually only when they aren't girls he thinks are cute... Not so bad once he gets used to the team. I have to admit that he helped me pull a few pretty awesome pranks on Finn back when we were both ne---"

"PAPA! LOOK!"

He was interrupted by shrieks of delight coming from the direction of his daughter. Now, somehow during the five seconds when he had looked away and right that moment, Katie had managed to find yet another worm---no, two worms. One was extended towards him proudly, the other she had handed off to the other child.

"Katie, seriously!" Ian looked caught between exasperated and amused as he jumped up to grab his daughter. Throwing his arm around her waist, he lifted her up and grabbed the new worm out of her hand, then leaned down and picked up the one she had given Ava. Groaning and ignoring Katie's frustrated kicking, he looked apologetically at Victoria. "I'm sorry. She's a handful sometimes. I don't always remember to keep my eyes solidly focused on her."

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beavertails
2011-05-31 01:41 am UTC (link)

Victoria smirked at Ian's words. "I'm sure that he's much less fun now, but he seems to be a better player -- and that's what matters in the long run, I'm told." She was about to continue talking shop, as it were, when the two girls sauntered up properly muddy and looking terribly pleased with themselves. She blinked, not seeing the big deal with the worm other than the fact that if the girl ate it, she was probably going to get pretty sick.

Ava whined just as hard as when Ian took away her own worm, but she ended up going to Victoria's side. That had to be a good thing, right? She half-laughed.

"Oh, don't worry about it. No harm in a little dirt other than to my time scrubbing out the stains." Or, more realistically, her brother scrubbing out the stains while she tried to get Ava into the tub again. She picked up Ava to give her nose a beep, ignoring the sand down the front of her shirt. "You shouldn't play with worms, button. They could squirm up your sleeve and then up your neck, and then into your nose!!"

...Ava looks properly horrified at this idea.

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gimmeabell
2011-05-31 02:08 am UTC (link)

...the problem was, knowing Katie, she would try to eat the worms.

Ian had had more than one experience lately with his perfect little girl putting many not-so-perfect little things in her mouth. Merlin, 27/4 fatherhood was literally the most tiring thing he had experienced in his life, and that included Finn's torturous practice sessions.

He let out a laugh at the look on Ava's--and Katie's--faces at Victoria's tale... and at the way Katie immediately calmed down in her horrific realization. Finally feeling like she was safe for the time being, he set the little girl back on her feet, only to have her suddenly sticking very close to his leg. Nervously, she looked at the ground, searching out where the earthworms had gone off to but suddenly lot quite looking as if she wanted to discover them again.

"That was brilliant," he said, impressed. "For having just being made a parent, you're doing pretty well. A fair share better than I've been doing."

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beavertails
2011-05-31 02:15 am UTC (link)

She couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh, that's just what my brothers and sisters used to tell me when I was young. A little bit older than these two, maybe, but still wanting to put every little thing in my mouth." If she realized how that sounded, she wasn't going to admit to it. Victoria set Ava back down on the ground and shooed her off toward Katie, hoping that they would go back to playing. It wasn't that she wanted to be rid of the girl so well, it was just that -- well, she wanted them to keep paying.

The more she played with other people now, the less energy she'd have later on. That was a good thing not only for herself but for her brother.

"I'm sure you're doing well. I mean, at least you're sure that you -want- to be a father. I -- well, you know Vinny, right? I think he's mentioned you before. He doesn't think he's so sure." Surely Ian knew how hard it was when the other person who was supposed to be responsible for your child wanted to try, but didn't seem to be succeeding.

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gimmeabell
2011-05-31 05:20 pm UTC (link)

Ian frowned at Victoria's words and sat back down, leaving Katie to employ her new mate in her search of the rogue worms.

"I guess I know now I want to be a father," he said with a shrug. "I didn't back then. Katie was definitely..." what was another word for 'sudden accident'? "...not something we expected to have in our lives." He stared out at the blonde toddler, and suddenly felt overwhelmed by a smile again. "But you know, it gets easier. Even if you're terrified and deny it in the beginning. It's just, it's a huge change and it's a steep learning curve and that's pretty scary, but..."

He shot her a reassuring smile. "Vinny's a good guy from what I know of him, right? He'll come around. He probably just needs time to let it all sink in." After all, he spoke from experience in the matter. Men didn't have that maternal instinct women did, they didn't grasp on to all of that stuff so quickly and naturally. That was exactly what he was struggling with right at the moment.

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beavertails
2011-06-02 02:17 am UTC (link)

"So Katie was a 'happy' surprise, huh?" She laughed again, glad to feel at ease enough to do so. It had been at least a few days since she'd felt like she really had a grasp on ... anything at all.

Ava seemed happy enough to join Katie on her worm-avoidance. Victoria sat herself back down opposite Ian and shrugged her shoulders, frowning only slightly. "I'm sure that Vinny will come around; he can be kind of a stupid ass sometimes, but I know he always ends up feeling bad about it ... I'm just hoping that it's sooner rather than later." Because if this went on for much longer, she was fairly sure that Scott was going to punch Vinny in the face. Her brother packed a mean right hook, and it would definitely not be good publicity for her.

"Thanks, though. So far I haven't really done anything that I think merits the 'worst parent ever' label, but that could definitely change quickly." She was extremely paranoid she was going to look away for a second or have to go to the bathroom and come back to Ava either doing something very naughty or have her be seriously hurt.

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gimmeabell
2011-06-02 10:46 pm UTC (link)

Ian laughed. "I'm sure you'll be fine," he reassured her. Although he wasn't entirely sure why it was so easy to reassure someone else when he himself was paranoid about the same thing. When was the moment going to come when he royally screwed something up? He felt like it had to be close. "If I haven't managed to drop Katie off a balcony, I'm sure you're not going to do anything terribly wrong with Ava."

Truthfully, he wasn't sure why he felt so eased with Victoria. It was the first reprieve he felt like he'd had in months from how much life sucked and how scared he was to be on his own with his daughter--well, except for when he was up in the air playing Quidditch, but even then he was still in the back of his mind worried about how Katie was doing back on the ground. It was nice to have someone to talk to who really understood exactly what he was going through and could share reassurances that neither of them were going to do anything terrible, and they'd both get through it.

"I think we should hang out more often," he said, finally. "I don't think the girls would protest."

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