Enter the Uncle

[mitochondriaaya]

It was a day like most others; sunny and bright with the sound of children screaming on the school playground. Recess always had screaming, usually it was the playful kind. Today the only anomaly was the principal standing outside next to a strange man whose gaze was weighing each of the running children in turn. The principal was trying to be helpful of course, pointing in the direct of one of the mobs.

Said mob was currently devolving into a medieval war on the monkey bars. The self-proclaimed King Braig was holding the top of the span with his loyal Knights holding either side for the moment. The barbarians were numerous though...and seemingly impervious to pain given the scraped knees and elbows they were gaining.

The man nodded gratefully to the principal so that the man could head back indoors...and waited. He wanted to see how this little war played out. And how the kid interacted with the two friends he'd been told about.

Comments

[sliceitwithwind]

"It should be fine, Ayay." Dilan was assuring her, patting her on her back, "Seriously. If the teacher has problems you can point out that she's not dealing with me again and at least you aren't going through and correcting the maths book."

"He totally did." Braig agreed, "In red ink."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Yeah, but when she was dealing with you she knew you were right usually. With me she always says I should do it the way I'm suppose to to and not get it wrong!" DIFFERENT APPROACHES!

Nevada stayed leaning against his jeep, but lifted a hand to wave at them. "Did you remember that paperwork for me?"

[sliceitwithwind]

Braig held the paperwork up while saying, "If you got the answer right and she marks it wrong, mom'll talk to her for you."

"So will momma. She really hates it when people are pedantic about things, she says as long as you get it right regularly it's okay not to show all of your work."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Effective shortcuts save time," Nevada added mildly as he scanned the paperwork. It seemed basic, he'd have to get other signatures, but he was meeting the adults so! "Which allows you longer to work on the trickier problems. It's important not to be rushed when you get to those."

Aya threw up her hands and huffed "I KNOW! She just doesn't listen. Anyway." Grump. "Ummm, nice jeep?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"So we'll have adults talk to her." Dilan said, then frowned at the jeep, "That's pretty high."

"You can do it, dude. Use those cat-like reflexes!"

Dilan smacked Braig in the shoulder.

[mitochondriaaya]

"If she marks me off." Aya sighed and twiddled a foot in the dirt. "Yeah, high. Maybe we could climb the tires?"

Nevada snorted, "Or I could toss you all in back. "You weigh what, a hundred pounds combined?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"I'm a hundred pounds." Dilan said, simply, "Katzu have denser bones and muscle structures than humans or Olia. My great-grand-uncle weighed four hundred and seven pounds at the height of his development and he said my father was even bigger."

"I'm fine." Braig, however, just had his ego poked. God. He can do it, he's not as young as the others, and short doesn't mean useless!

[mitochondriaaya]

"Alright, a buck seventy then. Still within my weight range." Nevada's lips twitched like he wanted to smile but the oldest boy's ego probably couldn't take that right now. "There is no climbing on my jeep. The paint will scratch and I haven't even run it properly through the woods yet. When I take the doors off later it'll be easier for you all to get into." Without further ado Aya was getting tossed into the back, then Dilan...

...Braig he offered his hand to, waiting.

[sliceitwithwind]

Braig took his hand with a faint sigh, then got into the jeep. Dilan, however, busied himself making certain that Aya was firmly buckled in. "Do you know how to get home?" Dilan asked as Braig settled himself in.

[mitochondriaaya]

"I drove around the town for some time when I arrived, memorizing streets. If you can tell me the street name, I will get us there." He knew where Jerrig's house was of course but if Aya wasn't going there right now...

Aya scowled at Dilan. "I can do that!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"I know." Dilan said solemnly, "But it makes me feel better if I do it. That brain thing again." He checked on Braig, too, and eyed Nevada's seat-belt to be sure it was secure as well.

"We live at 3764 South Petunia. It's the big house on the left. Dilan is Obsessive Compulsive. He's usually pretty good, but if you think he's going to hurt himself and he doesn't seem to hear you when you try to talk to him you need to stop him physically or call someone else."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Okay." Aya stopped scowling then checked Dilan's seatbelt in case he'd forgotten. "But I would do it if you forgot."

Nevada nodded. "Obsessive compulsive with occasional tendencies that can lead to harm. I'll intervene. Tell me what else I need to be on the lookout for with your three. Allergies, phobias, the like." Since he had intelligent kids willing to share?

[sliceitwithwind]

"I know." Dilan allowed Aya to check his work and leaned back into the seat, offering, "Aya is allergic to almost everything the first time she runs into it. I can't have most human medicines, if I get hurt make sure they call Lenna - that's my momma - or Dr. Sarrana. They know what medications I can use. Braig has a mild sensitivity to shellfish, but it's not that bad."

Braig noted, "Dilan has an encyclopaedic knowledge of everyone's medical problems. He's afraid of heights since we broke our legs, Aya is afraid of hospitals and speeding cars...mostly if she's in the car. I don't have any phobias."

Dilan, again, with; "My big OCD problems are hand washing and over-use of cleaning products. I'm not allowed to clean things using anything stronger than soap without adult supervision."

[mitochondriaaya]

"What pain killers or antiseptics can you use, Dilan? I will aid them to my first aid kit." Because he liked to be prepared. Especially if he was going to take them out on an exercise trail. Skinned knees could be bad if Dilan was allergic to Iodine.

As for the rest, well, he wouldn't drive fast or force them to climb. No cleaning products for Dilan if he could help it. No shellfish meals, just fish if it came to that. Easy enough. "Do you know what tends to trigger lengthy hand washing and cleaning? I know some is okay but some triggers make it bloody..."

[sliceitwithwind]

Dilan rattled off a series of multi-syllabic medications with the same ease that Aya would use to say her ABCs.

"Um. Stress?" Dilan offered, slowly.

Braig, "If he gets too confused about things, or if people are being nasty about the fact that he's a bastard, or if he gets really dirty."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Repeat the last one for me." Nevada requested of the medication list. He'd write it all down when he dropped then off, but for now he just needed to fix them in his memory. "And thank you Dilan."

Greta. Stress, bullying, depression probably and dirt. He'd work around that. And pack soap when they went hiking and such. "Alright, we can work with all this. Exercise trail tomorrow instead of recess and a barbeque tonight. Anything you all enjoy as a snack?"

[sliceitwithwind]

Dilan repeated, cheerfully, "You're welcome." he said in a chirping voice.

"Fruit!" Braig and Dilan chorused, with Braig offering, "But you've got to limit how much Dilan gets. No more than an apple at a time, and he should have jerky or something as well."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Dried fruit then, and jerky, when we finish the exercise trail." Because kids required feeding in his experience. "Only a handful for Dilan. Anything else you guys want to bring up before tonight? Your house is coming up."

[sliceitwithwind]

"Don't be offended if one of my parents jumps up and runs out. They're scientists and sometimes are hit by inspiration."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Thank you for the warning." The sudden jumping up and running thing tended to make him...worry. A lot. Time to park and help kids out of the back of the jeep. "Get your homework done, Aya, before I'm back for the barbeque tonight."

Aya blinked, like it had never occurred to her not to do it, then laughed. "Okay!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Homework comes after school." Dilan said blankly, and Braig added, "It's part of the routine. Dilan is big on schedules and we pretty much live by 'em too. It's no fun without him, after all."

[mitochondriaaya]

"And they work!" Aya chirped, taking Dilan's hand and swinging it.

"Well...I approve then." Nevada admitted after a moment of thought. "I'll be back in a few hours."

[sliceitwithwind]

"See you later, Uncle Nevada." the boys said, Braig picking Aya's other hand up and the two of them lifting Aya off the ground as they headed in to the house.

[mitochondriaaya]

...

...

...

Uncle?

He winced and watched them safely into the house before climbing back into his jeep. Time to find a nice wine shop and a place to get sparkling juices too.Then bum around town for a bit, memorizing more of the area...and back for a barbeque.

Gah. Uncle.

[sliceitwithwind]

When he got back Dilan was playing with Aya in the back yard...where "playing" was a stand in for "building a trebuchet and having a physics lesson".

Braig and his father, a man who looked like a grey-streaked, tall version of Braig himself, were over by the grill chatting and waving their hands. Elcy was in the kitchen, visible through the window but pretty obviously concentrating on paperwork.