sit still, look pretty.

she laughed at the two, before focusing on rocco’s question. “i’m sixteen years old.” she answered it easily, but she didn’t brush it away. she invited the question, giving it all the importance it deserved, coming from him. he held the question with regard, so she matched it. she could already tell he was curious and smart, and violet would never deter that in a young mind. even if she herself had never been the inquisitive type. she admired it. “and how old are you, My Queen?” the answer, at least, would be funny. there was a gleam in her eye that showed her impish nature beginning to surface.

“right. okay.” she wasn’t going to fight the woman who had been so kind as to come out here and walk home with her. “but i’m a teenager, not a kid.” it was a joking difference, she didn’t actually care about the technicality that lay there, she was fine with being called a kid. 

“nobody’s home? what about rocco?” Violet almost couldn’t focus on the rest of it in her worry for the smart boy. he was just too good for anything to happen to. she’d be mad. “you should probably get back to him, right?” she didn’t know where the boy she assumed to be ziyu’s son was, but she knew he’d need his parents. “you really don’t need to stay with me, really. i’m sure you have better things to do, and i don’t want to impose on your home again.” she’d helped with groceries, but that was decidedly different.

“still, i’m not your kid. it’s a lot to ask, this late, and that’s a far walk… usually i get driven home, but father has production meetings once a month, so i walk, and-… it was dark.” and with the noises in the darkness, she’d been so scared. she still was, her voice shaking ever so slightly. but her neighbor was filling the night with their talk, so that was at least a bit better.

“i think so. Mother should be home in an hour… maybe lacey’s home? i know she and Tony are the only other kids at home. everyone else is other places right now.” she didn’t say what seemed obvious to her, because it might not be for Ziyu. Vi hurt her family’s reputation enough behind closed doors, she wasn’t about to out her favorite brother’s unreliability to his friend. “my house should be safe.” they were just getting the creepy crawlies from being outside too long. “right?”

“deepest appologies, ma’am.” she smiled, accidentally slipping into a bit of a faux british accent as she spoke to ziyu. “of course he’s too young to be king quite yet. a prince, with his mother the queen.” how could she have forgotten? silly vi.

“yellow?” the accent faded out when she heard the explination. she totally understood that one meme of i’ve known this person for five minutes and i would literally die for them. rocco was just. so. cute. Violet didn’t quite know what to do, as a wide smile grew on her face. “yellow, then. that’s such a big word, bud! way to go. i didn’t know words like that until i was… hmmm… nine? maybe even ten.”

Ziyu laughed at Violet’s attempt at a British accent, shaking her head. “Well, if I’m going to be a queen, who am I to turn that down?” She squeezed Rocco’s little hand, feeling that familiar sense of fierce pride rising up inside her. He was such a smart boy - so brilliant and racing past his peers in every aspect of his development. He smiled up at Violet innocently, eyes wide. “How old are you?” He asked, the shyness falling away and turning to curiosity. He’d always been interested in other people, wanting to know things - wanting to know everything, really. Ziyu tried her best to cultivate that curiosity, though she did try to make sure he didn’t ask strangers inappropriate questions. She hoped Rocco didn’t start asking for more personal information than that. 

“Ziyu? That’s quite a unique name you got there.” she replied with a grin. When the older female asked the question, Bella wasn’t sure if she should lie and risk getting kicked out or tell her the truth and risk being arrested, so she went with both; just a little white lie. “Yeah, you could say that.” She nodded in agreement with the other. “Better than I thought it would.” She let out a small laugh.

Ziyu let a smile play on her lips. It was unique, she supposed, in the sense that it wasn’t an English name. “It’s Chinese. Made out of the characters for nourish and for universe.” She traced the strokes on the counter as she said them. “And if I might say, Arabella isn’t the most common name either. Were you named for royalty?” She said teasingly, eyeing the girl with pleasant amusement. “Jumping right into hard liquor, have you? You’ve got a stronger constitution than me. The first time I had something other than wine, I threw up in a jug on the bar and had to pay a cleaning fine. A very embarrassing to the night in all. Hope it’s been going better for you.”

“a green dinosaur? You know those are the kings of all the dinosaurs? I’ll have to make you a big green crown!” she smiled, looking up at Ziyu just to ensure that this was all still safe territory. Nobody knew a kid like their parent, right? It was always best to check. But she didn’t want rocco to think she was neglecting him, and her eyes quickly returned to his. “you know my full name is violet. That means purple. That’s why I eat purple dinosaurs. But only with lots and lots of whipped cream, because it’s the yummiest ever. But I don’t know what color dinosaur I’d be…” she looked  at him for a second. “you’re the king, what do you think?”

“Oh, you will, will you?” Ziyu said, more than a little amused. Rocco grinned up at her, and she gave him a wink. “What do you say, my little prince? You think a green crown will be a good addition to your costume stash?” He nodded eagerly in Violet’s direction, and she laughed. “Thought so.” Violet seemed naturally comfortable with him, talking to him on his level without treating him like a complete idiot. She liked that. Rocco looked serious, pondering the question with the focus it deserved. “You should be yellow,” he said softly but surely. “Yellow is com-ple-men-ta-ry to purple on the colour wheel.” He sounded the word out carefully, making sure to pronounce it right, and beamed at Violet and Ziyu in turn. “I read that in a book yesterday!”

“I… I dunno.” Violet hated the evening dance class, especially when it was getting darker by the day. She’d been especially jumpy today, going so far as to melt down halfway on her walk home. She’d called in a bit of a panic, trying to sound calm and adult. Really, shed been sitting in a pool of streetlight nervous at the surrounding darkness when she’d asked Ziyu to meet her. Her parents wouldn’t, but ziyu was nice. She was just like a mom in a movie. And a movie-mom would do that.

“I’m sorry to drag you out here.” She said, taking her hand away gently. She didn’t want to let go, but she felt embarrassed enough as it were, walking along. But she found herself pressing into Ziyu’s side, hating herself for forgetting how dark it was at eight at night.

Ziyu looked around, more suspicious and wary than anything. They were in a nice enough neighbourhood that probably it wasn’t anybody getting murdered or anything ridiculous like that, but you never knew. “I’m glad you called and told me to meet you,” she said, muttering under her breath. Unbelievable that no one else would walk Violet home. At this hour, no less! “Don’t worry about it. I would have done the same for Rocco or any of the kids.” She gave Violet a comforting pat on the shoulder, letting her stay close. “Is anyone even at home waiting up for you?” She knew she was right opposite, could probably keep an eye out for Violet if necessary, but the shriek had shaken her. The thought of leaving her alone in an empty house wasn’t very reassuring either.

     𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐌 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐒𝐇𝐔𝐓     before moving up to rub tired eyes.     ❛  is it possible to go into hibernation instead of studying for the midterms  ?  asking for a friend.  ❜

Ziyu can’t help but snort in amusement - it’s been so long since she was in that phase of her life, it’s a little adorable to see the youngsters stressing over it. Not that she isn’t sympathetic - academics didn’t come terribly easy to her either. “Have you ever considered spending your time searching for a black magic ritual to turn you into a polar bear instead of studying?” Mostly a joke. She totally hadn’t fantasised about doing that as a kid sometimes. Totally.

his voice was soft and quiet- so quiet that vi had to listen closely. but that was fine, she could be soft as well. and besides, hadn’t she expected that a little when he’d immidiately joined his mother at the table instead of approaching her? “nah, he’s good. got good instincts on him.” to tell the absolute truth, vi found rocco adorable. she was okay with playing the long game to get him to like her. “you should always go to your momma when you see a stranger. good job.” she didn’t ask for a high five, knowing he probably didn’t trust her enough for that. she didn’t want to put him in a bad position. “thats why we hold hands at the store, right?”

“you know, i’ll tell you a little secret, rocco. don’t tell your momma this. but I only eat…” she wracked her brain, trying to find what would be the weirdest thing she could think of. “purple dinosours. with whipped cream on top. are you a purple dinosaur?” never mind the fact she had a drink in her hands right now. she was just trying to illicit a laugh.

Ziyu smiled, glad for Violet’s understanding - she’d definitely drilled it into all her kids to be cautious and wary of the world around them. Life was getting too dangerous for them not to be. Rocco managed a small, shy smile in Violet’s direction, nodding. Well, at least he was warming up to her a little. And she liked that Violet was considerate of his comfort and feeling of safety. She did chuckle softly at her next outlandish statement to Rocco. “You know, I can hear you,” she said, faux-exasperatedly. Rocco giggled from where he sat in her lap, smile getting wider. “If I were a dinosaur, I’d be green,” he insisted, voice getting a little more sure. Ziyu patted his hand fondly, shrugging her shoulders at Violet. “As you can see, he’s very into green. Sometimes I wonder if his future favourite holiday is going to be St Patrick’s. If not it’ll probably be Christmas, and not just for the presents.” 

Being out in the dead of night was not on the top of Ziyu’s list of things she particularly enjoyed doing, but in this case she hadn’t exactly been comfortable with letting Violet walk home alone after she’d been out late. It didn’t seem like anyone else was available to do so, hence her leaving the house far past midnight to meet her halfway and walk with her. She hadn’t expected a fairly violent shriek from a house just down the next street, or for Violet to yelp and grab onto her hand. “Good lord, what was that?” 

“It was an okay breakfast,” Rhiannon rolled her eyes with good humor because, for her, a cereal bar and some milk were more than sufficient to survive some hours. Her smiled increased a bit after seeing her flushing face, deciding she liked it. “Then it’s settled. You already have my contact, we’ll just have to concrete the date and it’s done,” The following gesture actually surprised her though, it was gentle and different from the way she usually was treated by other clients. Not that they were bad or anything, but none as adorable as the woman in front of her. She was going to say something about it, but the ringing distracted her. “Oh, I’ll get it,” She almost jumped out of bed, opening the door. She thanked them and pushed the trolley inside the room, not caring much of what they saw. “Room service ready!”

Ziyu gave up on arguing the point. She’d seen her eldest pour black coffee into their Lucky Charms and eat the whole bowl like it was normal - the shit young people did these days was beyond her comprehension. The thought of seeing Rose again chased any thoughts of her children out of her mind, anyway. Was it stupid that she hadn’t even left the hotel and she was already looking forward to the next time they’d meet? She watched as the girl sprang to get the door, bringing their food to the beside. Ziyu sat up to eye it critically, mentally portioning the plates so Rose would get a bit of all the food groups. “Tell the truth. When was the last time you ate something green?”

“Will do, I’m thinking of Jessica Lange, I’m sure my dad already had met her,” He clicked his tongue, containing a smile with a serious expression. The problem was that he also didn’t want to come back, he still didn’t know if performing arts was what he wanted to do and if it wasn’t, he had no idea of what to try or if he should. Sometimes it was easier, to pretend that he didn’t need to think ahead of the day he was living, but deep down knew what a fool he was. “I don’t want to study something for the sake of doing it and… I don’t have anything I’ll like to do.”

Jessica Lange indeed. Tony could be such a witty little shit. That was probably why they were such good friends despite the age difference. She sighed listening to his concerns. They seemed so distant now, things she’d worried about twenty years ago. How had she gotten through that herself? Well, okay, she had an actual answer - she’d gotten married and had kids and after that liking things didn’t really matter because you damn well had to get up to check on your colicky child at three in the morning whether you liked it or not. “Have you considered accidentally having a kid and turning into a responsible superhero of a father overnight?” She was joking. Mostly. “What happened, Tony? I thought you loved what you were doing. Is it because of your family?” 

Violet stood peacefully, trying not to seem too scary as Rocco came down. she might’ve been reading him wrong, but he looked a little nervous of her. she didn’t want that one bit, so she just smiled until his mother introduced her. she walked to sit across from him, putting her elbow on the table so she could really get on his level to talk to him. “hi, rocco. i’m vi. I live right across the street, like your momma said. can you see my house out the window? that white one.”

she smiled at the boy, a little bit secretively. “now i have a really super duper important question for you, little man. got a favorite color?”

Ziyu smiled fondly down at her son, although she was pretty sure he was getting way too big to be sitting on her lap like this. Ten more minutes and her legs were going to start aching. Rocco looked up at her a little anxiously, as if questioning if it was really okay to talk to this stranger. She nodded, giving him a quick kiss on the forehead. His murmured replies of “hi” and “yeah” and “green” were nearly inaudible. She shook her head, glancing apologetically over at Violet. “He can be a little shy sometimes. It might take him a while to warm up to you.” She stroked a hand over Rocco’s hair. “Vi’s not going to eat you, darling. No need to be nervous.”