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 Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:07 pm
"I wanna do this. I wanna!" Zach was already mid pout mode. Rene was having none of his shenanigans and simply focused on something else. The brat hadn't bothered to say what he wanted to do, just that he wanted to do it.
"I can't let you do things until you tell me what they are, you know." She mentioned, reading an article about the construction near Gambino. Zach puffed out his cheeks and glared.
"I wanna see Izzy! I wanna go out and do fun stuff with her! Remember when we did the waterpark?"
"It's too damn cold for waterparks, Zach. Think of something else."
"I KNOW THAT."
Silence fell over the kitchen as Zach huffed and puffed his cheeks out, glaring at his guardian. Rene sipped from her cup of coffee and ignored him. The temper fell, and Zach went back to complaining.
"I wanna go to an arcade and play games. I have my saving money, I can take her out if she doesn't get an allowance!"
"Hell, give her dad a call. The number's by the phone."
Zach dragged a chair over and climbed up to the phone, keying in Henri's number carefully. Izzy times? THERE HAD BEST BE IZZY TIMES HENRI.
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Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:16 pm
Henri was busy mopping the footprints off the living room floor when the phone rang. He answered and tucked it between his ear and shoulder without once glancing toward the caller ID. He may have been more careful if he had. Izzy was watcher her father from the dining room table, feet dangling innocently as she listened. Today was one of those boring snow days where there was nothing to do. Nobody came to the beach any more, and they had already been out to breakfast and gotten really cold. She was a bored child.
"Hello?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:19 pm
"HENRI."
"Christsakes, child, tone it down. Don't deafen him."
The phone was taken away from Zach's mouth for a moment so he could proplerly yell. "I'M NOT GONNA DEFEN HIM."
He picked the phone back up and breathed for a moment, trying to remember what he'd called about. Hmmm. He forgot. Okay. Trace the though. Bored. Izzy. Play times?
"Henri, I wanna see Izzy can we go to an arcade I've got money so we can play games I save stuff." Zach waited, as patiently as he could. "Oh, right. HI."
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Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:22 pm
Henri was blasted back into full consciousness by the child's screaming and pulled the phone momentarily away from his head. When he pulled it back, it seemed as if Zach had found his inside voice. Thank God.
"I could give you two a ride," he agreed, giving Izzy a little look. She perked and tilted her head in question, but she knew to never interrupt Daddy when he was on the phone.
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Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:24 pm
"...Okay! I'm bored, Henri. It's boring. I'll go get my money you come get us okay?" It was nice that Izzy's dad had a car. Rene didn't and that was dumb. He hopped off his stool and dragged the phone to Rene, stretching the cord to it's limits. "Here you guys talk imma get my money."
And off went the jellyfish child, trailing his tendrils behind him.
"So. Sorry about Hurricane Zach. How've you been?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:31 pm
"Alright," Henri nodded when he was given the time. He was by now rather used to his friends' habit of springing plans on him. Besides, children had to be children as long as possible in a world like today. He put the phone to his chest to speak to Izzy.
"Go get ready, mon ange. I'm taking you and Zach to the arcade. You might want to break open Mr. Piggy." He put the phone back to his ear just as Rene finished speaking.
"What was that? Oh, I'm fine. Work's been busier with the bad weather. How about you?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:36 pm
"I've been well." She sounded it as well. No more depression or overly angry; just the usual rhaspy, sarcastic sort of voice. "Good to hear you've been keeping busy. It's been slow at the bar, but what can you do?"
She laughed a bit, shaking her head. "Aww, don't make the kid break open her piggy bank. That's just heartbreaking."
In his room, Zach had unscrewed his money jar and was carefully laying money out. How much should he budget for this? Hrm.... Two people. Rene would give him food money, so he'd just have to budget for play money. Two people.... Maybe twenty dollars each? He took the requrired money from the jar, put everything else back inside in neat little piles, added the figure to his little money book, and started to get ready.
Zach may have been lazy as hell with schoolwork, but money was serious business.
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Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:42 pm
"Mm, indeed," Henri agreed, setting his mop aside and leaning against the wall. Chores would have to wait until the kids were done having their fun. "Don't worry, Mister Piggy has a plug. Life and death really isn't something I want her worrying about just yet." His grin was clear in his voice, and Izzy came around the corner in her jacket with a handful of crushed dollar-bills. She didn't get a weekly allowance, only paid per chore she did, so it was likely that she was less well-off than her stinging friend. Still, Henri noticed that she didn't have it all with her. She was certainly learning.
"We're ready when you are," he smiled and nodded. Izzy giggled and bounced on the balls of her feet, clearly more than prepared. It had been while since she'd spent a good day with Zach!
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Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:51 pm
"All right. I'll get Zach ready." Rene nodded, looking back towards the boy's room. There were no horrible noises. That was always a good sign. "Stop on by whenever you want."
Zach was nearly ready, buttoning up his coat. He toddled out and stood patiently by the door. Well, as patiently as he could.
"Is he here yet?"
"No, Zach."
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Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:59 pm
"Coming now," Henri nodded, "I'll see you soon, Rene."
The entire ride into town, Izzy was bouncing with excitement and trying to reason with her father. If she got enough tickets to win a puppy, was she allowed to get one? What if she had too many tickets to carry? Did Daddy thing they'd have spider rings even though it was winter? In fact, Daddy wasn't even sure if this was the same kind of arcade Izzy was talking about. She seemed to quiet after that. They arrived at Rene and Zach's house within 15 minutes, and Izzy hopped out of the car to run for the front door.
"ZACH! ZAAAAACH!"
It seemed she always forgot her manners when Zach was around.
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Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 1:09 pm
Zach had been waiting by the window, his headpoof likely visable from outside. When Izzy came up the walk he was gone from the window, fumbling with the door and dragging it open. "IZZY IZZY THERE'S SNOW AND STUFF BE CAREFUL."
That didn't stop him from stumbling out in his adorable little rainboots (Complete with froggies on the toes, sometimes even Rene wasn't immune to cute things). He slipped at first, mittens hitting the front step, but scrambled up and headed for her. "Be careful be careful!" He said, holding out his arms in case she'd need to lean on him. Zach had good ice balance. He liked ice skating.
Rene watched the shenanigans from the porch, travel cup of of coffee in hand. "You guys wanna step in, or head straight out?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 1:20 pm
Henri shuffled up behind Izzy, prepared if she took a header into the pavement. He wasn't sure she'd care in this setting. He wasn't sure she'd want to cry in front of Zach. He was terrible for her personality, but probably better for her in the long-run.
"I think it's been decided," Henri shrugged, nodding toward the kids, "I'll bring them back in a few hours, you can invite me in then. I might need it." He turned to the kids then and grinned. "Be careful getting to the car!"
Izzy had run to Zach and taken his open arms as an invitation to hug. Once the gesture was complete (it was a shorter time with Zach than most people) she leaped back to stand in the snow and shift her weight. It was very chilly in the winter, and her girdle was almost always cold. It would be nice to do something inside today!
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Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 1:24 pm
Huh. A hug hadn't been what he'd meant, but that was okay too he guessed. Zach hugged back and crunched snow under his boots, heading to the car beside Izzy. He didn't want her to fall. Then he'd have to kick the snow a lot to make up for her falling. It all made sense in his little head.
"Thanks for takin' us and stuff, Henri." Zach said, climbing up into the car. Why, Zach! Were those some manners? How wonderful!
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Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 1:31 pm
Well, would you look at that! It seemed Rene had instilled some manners in her boy. Maybe he wasn't beyond fixing after all. Izzy hopped up into the seat beside Zach and uncrushed the bills in her hand.
"I have five dollars," she stated simply. She was under the impression that they'd pool all their tickets in the end so they could both get a good prize, instead of someone being stuck with an eraser while the other got a pony.
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Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 1:42 pm
Zach blinked at her, kicking his boots as he did up his seatbelt. He was a big boy. He knew what to do when you put him in a car. "Don't worry. I brought money for both of us." He said, nodding. "I get a'lowance every week and I mostly save it and stuff." Rene had actually bumped it up recently; she'd been pleased with his saving ability and felt it deserved a reward. "And I got some food moneys too if we get hungry."
It made sense to Zach. He'd invited her out, he would have to pay. He kicked his feet and looked pleased. "I missed you! How have you been?"
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