silvermist1116

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Mention: @FernStone

Tayla was enjoying the conversation, getting good knowledge on motherhood going forward, when some kid in a KKK costume passed them. Lihn felt the need to be the one to talk to the little brat. She wasn't sticking around for the racist parent that would come and get their kid. She got up and went to the story time circle. Her approach didn't interrupt the storyteller at all. She figures with kids this young, they have experience in continuing through anything that would be seen as an interruption.

Siwan looked at her immediately, smiling and waving his arms to go up. She picked him up, then helped her father off the ground. He's too old to be sitting on concrete. She led them away from the story time, it was almost 4pm, so it would be ending soon anyway. Led them to the crafts table. She sat with Siwan in her lap and handed him crayons and a coloring sheet. He went town scribbling all over the page, the lines were merely a suggestion to him.

"배고파?" her father, Seunghoon, asked.

"아니요," she replied.

"배파!" Siwan said, slamming his arms on the table and wiggling in her lap.

She fed him before they left, but anytime food or being hungry is mentioned, he'd always say 'yes.' She rolled her eyes and reached into his baby bag for her wallet. She pulled out a few dollars, but her father shook his head. He waved away her money and asked for her order.

"Popcorn and a corndog." That shit would be expensive, but at the same time she wanted Siwan to have a fun first experience and that meant festival food too. They'll eat, then ride the Ferris Wheel and get out of here by 5. That's plenty of time to get home and have their evening routine.

Seunghoon walked away, going to get their food, and she resumed her focus on watching her son color. She did keep an eye for Lihn in case something bad went down.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Totally distracts from the conversation.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Not Clancy cosplaying the kkk for Halloween. Lol

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Mention: @FernStone

Tayla shook her head. "I'm not sitting through that. Not much of a play person. He wouldn't understand anything that's going on anyway. He's got enough attention span for Disney movies, because of the songs, story time, and eating his favorite food. Other than that, he's telling me to tell him what something is, always moving on to the next thing before I finish explaining."

She pointed at the crafts table. There were coloring pages and crayons. "That's where we're going next. He liked to color. We have his coloring pages everywhere in the house. I have my favorites at work in my locker. We'll do that for a little bit, then I'm taking him on the Ferris Wheel. I hope he doesn't cry from being so high up." It's a chance she's willing to take. She told they'd go. He doesn't remember her saying anything about it, but she promised him and she never wants to be a mother that doesn't keep her word.

"I'll be happy if he rebels and doesn't want me joining for story time when he's nine. Saves me the embarrassment of sitting with a child too old to be there," she said candidly. "Nine's so far away. I can't even imagine what he'll be like in a year. Walking and talking better that's for sure, and I know he'll be the tallest kid in class for the rest of his life, but everything else is blank." She got more relaxed, propped her knee up on the bench and facing more towards Lihn.

"What's it been like for you raising a child for nine years? Doing it for eighteen months is hard, even with him being a relatively easy child."

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Mention: @FernStone Lihn

Tayla felt a poke. A little harmless thing trying to invade her emotional fields when the woman next to her sat down. She tensed up and turned to look at her, headphones now around her neck. She hadn't picked up anything malicious when she entered her range to hear thoughts. Doesn't mean she's not good at masking intentions and keeping them from the forefront of her mind.

She should've asked before poking her. It was a like a slip it seemed. She wasn't touching her with magic anymore. She could let it go. She'll reserve completely doing that just in case. She shrugged, not caring about the seat. She didn't own the bench and it's not like she took up a lot of space to begin with.

She looked in the direction the woman pointed to a little girl way out of place among babies. She snorted. Cute. Her gaze drifted towards her own family. Siwan was on his feet, standing in front of where her father sat behind him. He was holding onto her father's shoulder, engrossed in the story. She pulled out her phone and took a quick picture of them. At this angle, she only saw a little of their faces, but it's cute. She couldn't help smiling.

"Tayla," she introduced herself. She eased up a little bit. She's never talked to another mother before. Other than simple pleasantries with the moms dropping their kids off at daycare. She kept it moving after that, never wanting to have long talks about motherhood before. Most moms weren't like her. Recovering drug addicts that's spent eight years being pimped out for drugs and deals. All of it fuzzy memories she'd rather not look too closely at.

"That's mine over there with my dad," she said, pointing to a middle aged Korean man with a pumpkin child blocking his view. "It's his first time here. Thought we'd get here early before the crowd really came. I don't want him around the hot garbage that goes on after sundown."

She knew just how bad that shit could get. There's always a fight, vomit, drinking, someone taking a chance at not getting caught fucking in public. They rarely got away with it. "Is she gonna go to the play? I'm sure that's got something to do with writing too." The play was for all ages. She's not sure if she wanted to sit around for an hour watching adults in costumes prancing around the kids. Coloring and drawing at the crafts table seemed more fun.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Did Tayla want to go to Cracker Island? No. Did she care for the Halloween Festival? Not since she was a kid, but she has a kid now. Which mean doing shit and going to shit she'd rather be at home during. Siwan's too young to remember any of this anyway, but she wouldn't be doing her due diligence as a parent if she didn't take her baby to the festival. Her father's coming too. It's been awhile since they all hung out somewhere that wasn't the boat or at home. Didn't help she had that god awful dream last night. It bothered her so much, she called in sick and kept Siwan home from school. She needed to have him close. That dream was too bizarre for her to feel comfortable without him being away from her.

She didn't put any effort into her 'costume.' She painted blue shimmery stars on the left side of her face with her eyeshadow, wore a black baggy sweat suit, That Melody, and called it a day. For Siwan though, she put him in the cutest little pumpkin costume and took a lot of pictures of him, before they left the house at 2pm. She wanted to get there early. That's when all the baby to toddler activities would be in full swing. Most of which would close by the time it got dark around 5pm.

They arrive at the island on their boat, docking it, then standing in line for tickets. Siwan looked around in her arms in wide eyed wonder at everything around them. He's never been to a festival before. He couldn't speak well enough to ask questions, but he did point at stuff he wanted her to answer. "That's a pumpkin. Like you. You're dressed like a pumpkin. And that's a Ferris Wheel. I'll take you up when it's dark out, so you can see all the lights." The moment she said that, she decided she wouldn't wait until the sun was down. The water would be pitch black in the darkness and that freaked her out a little bit. The sea at night looked like a void of nothingness. She avoided looking out the windows at home before the sun came up for that very reason. She could deal with it in the early morning, since the sun put in the work to rise while she put in the work to help her father earn money.

"Never mind. We'll go sooner." She wanted to be out of here by sundown. All the adults and teens up to no good come late. She can't have her baby exposed to even the slightest hint of the people she used to hang around. Since he was under 2, Siwan got in free, but her and her father had to pay for their tickets. They got in. Everything was orange, somewhat scary looking, and Halloween festive. It was a Tuesday, not a lot of people arrived yet. Kids were still in school and not many parents were going to take off work to bring their kids early. It was most elderly, people that wanted to be here with plenty of day time to spare, and mothers with their toddlers here.

They took Siwan to the baby section. It had a petting zoo, coloring table, Halloween play, Halloween story time that started at 3, games meant for his age group. It was all very cute and wholesome. [color=DE198A]"Pig!" he squealed, pointing at the piglet in the petting zoo. She took him to the hand sanitizer and rubbed it into his hands, before taking a cup of animal feed and giving him a little bit to give to the piglet.

"It's 돼지. Can you say 돼지?" she asked him, holding it his hand out. The piglet ate right from his hand. The slimy texture made him squeal some more. He pulled his hand back, trying to decide if he like it or not.

"대지!" he attempted to repeat.

"You're not wrong, but you just skipped the W altogether." She laughed and kissed his cheek, getting some of her red lipstick on him. "We'll work on it." She wiped it off, then gave him more feed to give to the other animals, picking him up to reach the taller ones like the baby cow and llama.

They feed the animals, until he ran out of feed in the cup. She took him to a port-a-potty to wash his hands and made it back just in time for story time. Her father decided he wanted to do that activity with him, so she let them find their seats. She sat on a bench a few feet away and put That Melody on. She needed to get in some practice and what better way to do it, then in a decently crowded area.

A myriad of thoughts assaulted her at once. She got her bearings and concentrated on a group of old people across the way ordering funnel cake. It was all flitting thoughts of the food being too expensive. Someone's wife used to love this (she died 2 years ago). Another wished their grandkids were here (they lived too far). It was all boring. She focused on family getting apple cider. The dad was having fun, but his wife was tired. Their kids hated the cider, but drank it anyway. Mom would get mad if they wasted money. More boring. She hopped from group to group, purposely avoiding the story time area. She didn't want to zero in on her family's thoughts. Story time went on for an hour. She stopped training in thirty. It was going to take some stamina to get used to taking in thoughts and filtering through the bullshit. She can't let the Dollhouse down. Not with the deal to keep Dean the hell away from her.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Vanburens are a rich, family run, shadow organization that rivals the Dollhouse, except they chill.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

@FernStone Lol. She'll poison her drink with something from her Garden if she did that.
@Punished GN What are the Van Burens doing in St. Portwell?

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

@Punished GN Y'all really gonna make me pull Georgie out of retirement.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Another Van Buren? Sweet Jesus.