whenshewasnice | Room 223, Saturday Late Morning/Noonish

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Room 223, Saturday Late Morning/Noonish

Natalie had not escaped.

She was just... taking a moment to herself. She'd left Sam alone with Ada for the moment, with the excuse that she needed to go by her own room for a change of clothes, since for obvious reasons all she had in Sam's room was her prom dress. Except it wasn't really an excuse, was it, when it was the truth?

Semantics were her friend.

So, she'd made her way down the hall, she'd taken a quick shower, and she'd changed into normal clothes. She might have been stalling a little, now, because this whole thing was weird and a little unsettling, and she hated feeling unsettled, but... brushing her hair was a completely necessary action, right?

Right. So she was going to take a moment to herself to do that.

[ooc: Sam modded with permission, door is cracked, but post is wiiiide open!]

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Radio was done with and Lilith had been re-collected; Peter assumed that Topher could deal with Gen for a little while longer.

A little while. After that he'd probably have to save the poor kid.

He could really only manage one of them at once - at least, he presumed so - so there was only one place he could go after the preceding events. And so he arrived at Natalie's doorstep with the kid and gave the door a good knocking. "Nat?"

Lilith supposed that yelling 'mom' would probably net her even more stupid looks, so she chose not to. Instead she heaved a heavy sigh, glanced up at her father, and called, "Hello?"

Natalie had already felt wary when she'd heard Peter's voice. He didn't tend to drop by, that was more her thing. Hearing another, unfamiliar, child voice sealed it. For a second, she considered not responding and just pretending she wasn't in.

Sense won out, though. She put the hair brush down and made her way to the door. There, she inhaled a calming breath before actually opening the door and taking in the sight of Peter and the girl. "Hi."

"I don't suppose you've already heard about Fandom's latest whim?" Peter asked. He found himself subconsciously modulating his voice, as if he didn't want to make Lilith feel completely unwanted.

It was strange, and he wasn't used to feeling that kind of consideration for anyone else. He just had a vivid idea of what she might wind up feeling like.

"She probably has," Lilith said, sounding a little impatient. "You talked about it on the radio."

"I didn't listen to the radio," Natalie admitted, addressing the girl mostly because she was already searching her face for traces of... well, herself.

The fact that she thought she could pick up something that almost been her face, too, didn't exactly help. "But I'm aware of it. My knowledge is a little more hands-on than that."

Meaning she was wondering how Sam had let her basically name their daughter after herself. Ada Adams, seriously?

Peter did not say, They have a great sense of timing, don't they? because Lilith was right here.

He thought it and almost felt guilty about it.

"Sam?" he said, with rare sympathy. "Ouch."

He nodded at the kid. "This is Lilith," he said.

"And yes, I'm your daughter," she said, sighing, "And his. Let's not play twenty questions again."

Natalie couldn't even muster looking surprised, at this point. Instead, she flicked a wryly amused look up at Peter. It was almost comforting to know he'd struggled with this too.

"I bet he said 'What'," she remarked to the girl. "Lilith, eh? What's the rest?"

Just checking. Someone had been traumatized by the Ada thing.

"Got it in one."

Her father was a little predictable like that.

Lilith shrugged an idle little-girl shrug and picked at her shirt. "Lilith Valentine Wiggin-Adams," she said. "Annoyingly hyphenated."

"Valentine," Natalie repeated, just barely nodding. "Well, I guess that's slightly less self-obsessed."

As an afterthought, she added, "Sorry about the hyphen, but I'm sure it was inevitable."

"Of course we named you after my sister," Peter muttered. One day, Valentine's name might not leave him resentful. Right now it still kind of did.

"Don't worry. I forgave the hyphen a long time ago," Lilith said.

She would probably change her mind again once she hit puberty. Not that she even considered that idea. "Can we come in, please? Before dad catches a draft."

Snort.

"Yeah, sure," Natalie said, slowly, as she stepped out of their way so they could come in. She gave Peter a mildly curious look. "You have a sister called Lilith?"

Wrong name, Natalie.

Peter slanted a look at her as he stepped into the room, Lilith in tow. "No," he said, "But I do have a sister named Valentine."

"Oh."

Well, she supposed that worked in her favour, then. "We didn't name her just after your sister," she told him, as she was closing the door behind them. "My middle name's Valentine."

Peter's jaw tensed a bit for a second or two, but then he forced himself to relax. Val was months away by now, lightyears soon, and it was frankly ridiculous for him to be affected by the simple practice of talking about her name.

"The more you know," he said, faux-lightly, and found the nearest thing resembling a seat to sink into. "Lilith. I'm sure my mother loved that."

"Grandma got used to it." Lilith's tone was a perfect deadpan. She had no problem with sitting down on the bed, leaning backwards on her arms and observing Natalie from her new vantage point. "I don't think she minded the poking-fun of it in the end."

"What was there to poke fun at?" Natalie wondered, one eyebrow slightly raised. She ended up leaning a hip against the edge of her desk, without sitting down, for now. "What's wrong with Lilith. – The name, not you. But you knew that."

She seemed way, way more mature than Ada. And not just because of the few years's differnece between their ages.

"Mom was raised mormon," Peter said, rolling his eyes. "And dad grew up a pretty gung-ho Catholic. They were always big on saint's names."

Edited 2012-03-31 18:06 (UTC)

"Grandma wanted me to be called Mary, I think."

Did Lilith look amused by that? Maybe a little bit. Not that it mattered.

"You are definitely not a Mary," Natalie said, because no child of hers ever should be, even if she wasn't convinced she'd go as far as Lilith at this point in her life.

"I get the joke now. And I like the name."

"Oh, I bet the old cow blew up over it at first," Peter said, sinking back into his chair as he mimed an explosion with his hands. "That would've been worth seeing."

Lilith responded mainly by approaching Natalie. "I didn't exactly think I was a Mary, either," she said.

"And how much do you think you are a Lilith?" Natalie wondered, watching the girl. She didn't move, though she didn't seem particularly reserved, either.

That was just how she was.

"I'm not a demon, if that's what you're asking."

There was a flat duh-like quality to Lilith's expression.

"But Lilith was made equal to Adam," she added. "I don't feel like anyone's rib. So that suits me."

Natalie had to quirk a lopsided little smile at her for that. At least this duaghter did not feel the need to censor herself around her.

"No, you're definitely not a rib," she agreed. "I wouldn't have expected you to feel that way either, with your parentage."

Peter sat forward. "I have to agree with that," he said. "But then, I fully expect you to run for office by the time you're twenty."

He sounded like he was... mostly joking.

"That late?" Lilith drawled, daughter of the Hegemon and all. "I'll have time to follow in Mom's footsteps before that, then."

Not that she was really looking to do that.

Natalie gave that last bit a curious look, but she wasn't sure she wanted to know, so she let it slide.

She was still watching the girl. She saw more of herself here.

Peter, though, raised his eyebrows. "So Nat grows up to be some kind of big shot, too," he surmised. "Can't say I'm surprised."

He offered Natalie a lopsided smile.

"Mm." Natalie was... about half surprised, really. Not because she didn't think herself capable of great things, but because as of right now, she was probably looking to head into literary criticism or the like.

Not exactly a 'big shot' kind of area. "Apparently."

Lilith shrugged. "We of the hyphen ––" Not that anyone but her had one. "–– have it all covered."

Well, both power and the adoration of the public, but what more did you really need?

"Oh, that's nice and vague," Peter said, his mouth crinkling. Sure, he had no idea what to make of this, but: him, having a kid, in any timeline?

It was... something. He wasn't sure what. "I think she gets the poker face from you."

Because he clearly didn't have one. Ahem.

For that, he got fairly similar looks of dry 'really?' from both girl and mother.

Then Lilith did finally reach for Natalie's hand as some kind of compromise; about as close to a hug as she was really inclined to go for. (She also felt like she'd already done that – but figured that for a format-related thing.) "His narrative's the same as ever."

"Yeah," Natalie agreed, a little surprised, as she took Lilith's hand and gave it a little squeeze. The minimal physical affection didn't surprise her, obviously.

But that the meta had been passed on? That did. "It does that."

Peter's eyes rolled upwards, but then seemed to reconsider their trajectory as they rolled right back down and focused on the kid. "Will I by any chance grow up to understand all this meta stuff?"

Lilith considered this calmly for a moment.

Then she said, "You learn to hide it better that you don't."

Natalie tried not to laugh.

Peter shot her a foul look. "Someone's not getting muffins for lunch," he said.

Natalie gave him a wry look for that. "I doubt that's a threat that makes anyone here quake in their comfortable shoes."

Peter shot her a wry look back.

"Can we drag you out for lunch?" he said. "I spent time with her all morning. The least you can do is grace us with your presence while we stuff our faces."

Lilith, too, turned her face up at Natalie. Looking hopeful was beneath her (of course it was) but she could still convey some sense of not being opposed to the idea.

"And someone needs to be there when he starts getting all OSC about what this means for him in the future."

Natalie held most of her amusement back, but she did nod and shrug. "Sure."

And it wasn't just to avoid Sam and Ada for a while longer, honest. She hadn't even eaten anything yet. She'd just leave Sam a message so he'd know she hadn't just vanished.

"Least I can do."

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Room 223, Saturday Late Morning/Noonish

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