with time. saff & kiri.

Ripred, she could be so soft when she wanted to be. Her skin the sister of lavender petals and her hair a memoir of darkened vines. She could nestle beneath the curvature of Kirito's chin and drift drearily off to sleep without a single sound. On her very best days, the little girl would sing sweet songs of golden fields while listening avidly to the instructions of her parents. Yes, on days like that parenting is as easy as sailing a ship across a sea as smooth as glimmering glass.

But that is not the mood Sonja Miristioma is in today.

Her hair is so matted that Kirito can almost see the tiny tips of miniature devil horns emerging from the nest of youthful anger. Even her face is alight with a wave of red frustration, the clear signs of a girl who had skipped her nap the day before. Kirito silently scolds himself for letting the girls get ice cream after the park, but with everything going on he couldn't bring himself to be the bad guy. The Victor's self loathing ends abruptly as another sour spout of shouting streams from his youngest daughter. He has no choice but to act with more firmness.

Not even brain tumors trump parenting.

"Sonja shouting does not work in this family."

Kirito speaks in a voice only just slightly elevated.

"Now you either eat the pear your Mom cut up for you or you don't get to go play with the other kids today."

Thankfully the trick Kirito had learned to use on Ana seems to take instant effect. An angered glare sets inside of Sonja's stare, however, still she swiftly scarfs down the entire... two slices of pear Oasis had cut for her oatmeal breakfast. The disbelief on Kirito's face as he rubs his hands against his forehead is blatant. Who would have thought that two slices of fruit would have spurred the 83rd Hunger Games? He watches Sonja finish before picking her up from the table and heading for the daycare. Hopefully she'll behave there, unlike Ana she doesn't have a record of getting sent home for the day for hitting other kids.

Stepping forth from the elevator, ears of false design pick up what sounds like the echos of Kirito's own parental battle just moments earlier. The subjects of this war though are Saffron and Quinn Emberstatt. Kirito tries to give them space as he walks Sonja into the room, but hearing their conversation, well, argument, is inevitable. And the aftermath he recognizes all too well, from the wall slide to the tears. Yet Kirito is grateful for it, to know he isn't entirely alone trying to figure out what it's like to be a parent. What it's like to actually live the life others died for.

"Looks like a perfect spot, mind if I join you?"

Kirito asks as he slides down the wall next to her.

"They fight us and still in the end we feel like the one who's wrong. Fun right?"

^{[ DARS ]}