2022-05-08 - Just To See

(TXT to Ava) Myles : hey ava

(TXT to Ava) Myles : do you have an air mattress by chance

(TXT to ) Myles : avaaaaaaa

(TXT to Myles) Ava : Yeah, I do. Need it?

(TXT to Myles) Ava : You fuck up big time with Nic? 😆 😆 😆

(TXT to Ava) Myles : nah. we're going on a last minute trip

(TXT to Ava) Myles : and woman. it's my house. she can't kick me out of shit

(TXT to Myles) Ava : I've heard of plenty of guys getting kicked out of their own houses before! Especially if they mess up big enough. Your penchant for getting in trouble and her fuse length is asking for trouble.

(TXT to Ava) Myles : (...)

(TXT to Ava) Myles : can we borrow that air mattress please

(TXT to Myles) Ava : Yes, of course you can borrow the air mattress.

(TXT to Ava) Myles : thanks we're leaving... now. mind if i come get it?

(TXT to Myles) Ava : Not at all, come on by.

Myles arrives in his jeep only a few minutes later. He's till in his shorts, tank top and hoodie that he was on the beach. Hasn't slowed down a minute in their impulsive decision to just GO--

So the big man is tumbling out of the jeep, flip flops slapping hard against the pavement as he makes his way up to the house.

The front door of the house is open, with the screen being the only thing keeping the summer bugs out. There's classical music playing on a set of speakers coming from the living room, and Ava can be seen on the floor blocking what looks to be a sprawled out blanket. From her positioning it looks like she's bodily positioned herself to keep Myles from being able to see what's on the blanket when he peeks through the door.

What he can see is the box for the air mattress by the stairs leading up to her second floor. Looks like she found it.

Arriving at the door and hearing the classical music has Myles rolling his eyes at nothing as he looks in. Again, at Ava bodily blocking a mystery. There's a good humored but exasperated breath as he steps in. "Ava, it's fine. I can see it." He rumbles in a dismissive voice as he makes his way for the little box. "Is there a pump for it? Or.. Do you have to blow it up?"

"You had a hard time with just a picture, Myles. I know all the stuff you're going through with your little girl right now. I don't want to make it weird for you." Ava's head pivots as she glances back to him as he pops in. Much further and he'll see Nimue practicing her tummy time on the blanket in front of Ava, blue, tiger striped arms giving little flails.

"There's a hand pump and an electric one if you can manage an outlet. Where are you guys headed?"

"It's fine. It was just a moment of irritation. That's all." He waves his hand dismissively. He does poke forward to look down at the baby. The Nimue. He stares down at it for a few moments, brows locked into a near scowl. He stares for a few moments before glancing back to Ava more fully. "Salt Lake." Beat. "I still have my condo in Vegas. Til the 15th. So we're gonna camp out there. But-- It's completely empty. So.." Air mattress.

He stares down at the little creature. "So... What is it?"

Nimue is normal baby sized, maybe about two weeks old. Light blue with dark blue tiger striping, and glittering sheen over that. There are little webs between fingers and toes that suggests a hint of aquatic nature somewhere in there. She looks just like a normal, human baby. Except, not. Tummy time over, Ava gently rolls her over to her back so that she can stare up at Myles with big, blue eyes. Not that she can actually see Myles at this age with how far away he is.

"What's in Salt Lake? Chasing after someone? Condo means outlet! Which is great." It? "She. We don't know what species she is, yet. Just that she's very similar to humans, with a couple of small exceptions."

Myles looks dubious down at this alleged baby. He stares down at her for a few long moments. The question about Salt Lake pulls him out though.

"Our little girl." Myles explains quietly. "Nico said she wants to go check. Wants to go check and see if she's shiny. So we're.. driving tonight. We should be there by Sunday. Then we'll go.. get good food in Vegas." He shrugs those broad shoulders. He looks down at the baby for a few more moments. "And where did it-- She. Where did she come from?"

"Oh." Ava blinks, smiling, but then faltering a little, not sure which is the right emotion to display here. "How do you feel about this? I know you have been wanting to see her. But wanting to and actually doing it are going to be two very different things. You okay?" She reaches out to squeeze his arm in support. "You can text me if you get nervous, yeah?"

Eyes drop back to Nimue. "I wasn't kidding the other night. I grew her in my garden like a little baby bean. She grew from a pot, in a pod. When I opened the pod, there was the baby. It's more complicated than that; it was a Veil fruit I'd planted, I'd used Cryptid blood in her fertilizer, and I thiiiink the Faeries has something to do with it, because it was Beltane, which is a Fertility holiday, and we'd been really nice with the offerings." She smirks. "I think it all kind of blended together into one big mystery of ...baby."

There's a small wince that morphs into a grimace. "Uh.. Yeah. I've actually seen her before. A few times." Myles admits in a low voice. "I know I told you the thing about Nicasia and Chicago. The thing is-- Yeah. She never told me about Chicago. But I found her on my own. And... I've been keeping tabs on her, her whole life." He flicks his gaze away, not really looking over at Ava as he says this part. "I know they moved from Chicago to Salt Lake a while back. I've seen her at school. I have pictures of her." He swallows.

"Nico's never seen her, didn't know her name til I showed and told her tonight." He shrugs those broad shoulders before sloowly looking back over to her. He peers down at it. "So you think its a gift from the Faerie.. A baby?" Myles peers down at her. "What are you gonna do with i--her?"

Ava frowns at the admission from Myles that he lied to her about a few of the details. "Why bother telling me at all if you weren't going to tell the truth about it. That seems foolish." The frown lingers for a bit, but he isn't even looking at her, so she turns her attention back to Nimue and eases back into a smile for her sake.

"I don't know what to think. I have multiple theories. A gift. She could be kidnapped. I could have actually grown her on accident. She could be lost somehow. Either way, I need to find out if there are others of her kind. That's the first thing. Identifying her species. Then we go from there.

"Didn't lie." Myles rumbles, with his own frown, knitting his brows down at her. "I told you I was mad because Nicasia told me about Chicago when she told me before she didn't know. That was true. That's what I was mad about. I just didn't feel like tellin' you my whole fuckin' life story at the coffee shop or whatever the---" Fuck. He was going to say fuck. But he stops himself, maybe he's trying to limit how many times he swears in front of Ava.

"So.. How are you gonna do that?"

"Mm. You know what I mean, though, don't you?" Myles gets a little squint. He does, too. They both know it. But the squint doesn't last. His stopping himself from swearing gets a little brow lift, but it's immediately assuming to be for the kids' sake.

"Trying to get a hold of the faeries from the faerie circle out back, for one. I've been trying to petition them for a time to talk, but they haven't exactly been listening so far. Poking around in the Veil. going through mountains of books and research for obscure hints of stuff that could lean towards her existence. Bestiaries with information about her people, if they exist. Lots of exploration and research. Until then, I just care for her as best I can."

"You feel like I was bein' dishonest cause I didn't tell you the whole story." Myles rumbles. "But I feel like I didn't know you well enough to tell you the rest of the story." A big shrug there. "I probably still wouldn't be, honestly, if we weren't going to see her right now and I want someone to know where we're going in case anything goes bad. If that upsets you." Beat. "Sorry." Another big shrug.

He frowns softly as he looks over at her. "You can just go to the veil all casual like that? Without it being like a.. traumatic fuckin' experience?" He grunts once more, holding the box against his chest.

Ava pauses for a moment and tilts her head at him. "Well. That's the kind of truth I can get behind at least. The blunt kind. I can respect that. You're right that you didn't owe me the full story, but it did feel a little dishonest to make it seem like Nicasia was the only one keeping secrets when you were keeping your own from her, too."

"I don't know if I would say casual, like it's a stroll. Nothing about the Veil is casual. You go in and you be prepared for anything. You don't know what kind of environment you could end up in. You should be ready to open a door right back out just in case. Which is why I told you that just because you can open a door in, doesn't mean you should be going in yet. Wait until you can open out to get out, as well."

"I told you I'm not a good person, I said a whole bunch of shit like that. Shoulda listened." He rumbles low, shrugging his broad shoulders. "I didn't try to make it seem like she was the only one that kept secrets. What did you want me to say 'don't be too upset, I also do a buncha fucked up shit'?" He shrugs his broad shoulders. "I'll keep it in mind."

He frowns over to her. "How do I know when I can open an exit?"

Ava laughs. "That's a fair enough point. Alright, you win. You win." Her hands go up in defeat. She looks at Nimue and reaches down to take her little hands in two fingers and lifts them up. "Say, you win. You win!" There's a giggle and Ava grins.

"I can keep checking your power levels for you. That's easy enough. It's the cheating way. Otherwise it's just practice and learning the hard way.

Myles doesn't really laugh, or smile. Or anything. He looks down at the little Nimue. Looks back up to her, looks back down to the baby. He's quiet for a few moments. Looking like he may just go for the door.

"Wanna see her?"

Ava keeps a hand trapped in Nimue's fingers and glances up towards Myle's, offering him a saddened look when she spots his expression. Clearly she feels bad. See? This is why she was hiding the baby in the first place!

"I'd love to. Show me the pictures you've got."

Myles glances at the door. As if making sure the coast is clear. Then he's on his phone, its not as complicated of a process to get the picture up. He didn't delete the screenshot he took from his SECRET FILES. So he soon has a picture on his phone lowering it down for her to see. A little girl probably somewhere from 10-12 years old. The camera is zoomed in on her though she stands in between other children, wearing a little pink hoodie and a black backpack, her thumbs pushed into the straps of her backpack. She's a beautiful light skinned girl, her frizzy hair just slightly out of control. She's standing at a cross walk, most likely waiting for a crossing guard with the other children.

Ava leans in to take a peek at the phone and presses a hand to her chest. "Oh Myles, she's beautiful. I can see so much of both of you guys in her!" Her eyes look over the girl with a fondness. "What's her name?" He had mentioned that he knew it, after all. "If she does have the shine, what are you guys going to do? Have you thought that far ahead?"

His lips curl into likely the largest smile Ava's ever seen from the man. It's not a smirk, it's not amused or cocky. It's pure delight at the compliment, crinkling his eyes with the joy the compliments bring. So much so that he lets out a little laugh for no particular reason. The question though.Myles is hesitant at the question. He flicks his gaze over to her. He purses his lips. He bares his teeth for a moment. His bright features sober, some. "I ah.." He looks conflicted for a moment.

"Isabelle." He finally reveals, tentatively.

"Nah. We're just gonna check. Look and figure it out later."

The smile brings her a lot of joy. Seeing her friends happy makes Ava delighted in ways that she can't fully expression. He gets another little squeeze of the arm. "Isabelle. I like that. It suits her. I know that you guys didn't pick it out for her, but it's still really nice." A reassuring smile from the doctor. Then a solid nod at the plan. "That seems like a good idea. Check, make sure that she's okay and not in any kinds of danger, then sort it out from there. Hopefully she's just nice and non-shiny. A normal life would be great." There's a pause. "Right?"

Of course, if she is shiny, he has a reason to get involved in her life. Which may be what he's hoping for. Which is the reason she seems to be questioning.

Myles looks down at her and gives a little nod. "Yeah. That would be great." He rumbles lowly without any real zest for it. He slowly stands up to slide his phone back into his pocket. "Nico's probably finishin' up packing. I should get goin. But uh.. Thanks for this, Ava. I'll owe you a drink when we get back, yeah?"

"Deal. I had Ravn pick me up a bottle of that stuff that you said you liked, too. So you can come over and we'll drink and you can tell me how it went." Ava holds up a hand. "If you guys end up banging on that thing, do me a favor and do not bring it back to me. You can just keep it and I'll buy a new one." It's part tease, but also completely serious. "Seriously though. Text me if you guys get into any trouble, okay?" Myles gets a wave.

Myles starts to move towards the door, pausing, looking over to her. His brows knit. "What makes you think we fuck?" The big man grunts. "We're divorced." He looks over at her for a moment. Looking down at the box. He purses his lips.

"Fine."

Ava arches a brow at him for a moment and waits.

When he gets to the 'fine' she just laughs and nods. "I appreciate it."