▓ ０７ Ｐｔｓ．► audio. ► 0hana mean5 fam!ly, fam!ly mean5...?

[throwsdown]

[Takeshi has had a lot on his mind, lately. Some days, he wants to run to his most precious people and hug them and tell them how much he loves them--some days, he wants to call them names only good little boys call the people who raise them do. But then there are some days where he gets scared: his dad at home loves him, takes care of him, supports him. He says Takeshi is his kid. Takeshi believes him. But now he's in space with these new... he wants to call them parents. They feel like parents--the good kind, he thinks, anyway. He's mostly just used to the kind that let him down. 

Do they like him back? Like a son? Do they even want a son? Is he being bad, having so many people he wants like this? What if--they go away, when he tells them all this? He's scared of being alone again. He doesn't want them to go away. So... he asks Reaper for a favor, and once the message is encrypted good and proper, he asks the community a few things.

Grown ups tend to know things like this, right...?]

[ENCRYPTED // LOCKED FROM HEATHER AND NETHERLANDS (sorry guys)]

I... There's one, two [he counts them off just in case y'all need that visual] people I like a lot on the ship that... I mean, I like everybody, but these two are special! Heder and Mr. Ned--he works in the garden--they take good care of me and give me food and give me baths and they're nice to me, 'cept when I'm doing things that aren't good to do. But that's 'cuz they protect me! They're not my real mom and dad--but should I... if--should I call them that? Will they still like me if I do? I don't want them to think I'm being bad. I want them to keep being like my parents... I wanna call them that...

What if they don't like me no more?

'Cuz before, I didn't have good parents. And then I found my new dad at home--he's the best and strongest!

Will he be mad if I had more than, than--just him as a papa? Will he be mad if I had more? Can I have two dads and a mom, even if I had real parents before?

[This is all just so confusing. He's not sure what to do. He re-counts off on his fingers, adding the other 'parents' in his life, frowning. There's his dead dad and his mom-who-didn't-like-him and her mean boyfriend--but he doesn't count, right? And then there's Kaze and now...]

I think I have too many moms and dads... I think that's okay... I don't know. What do you think? What should I do...?

...

I just don't want them to leave if I say.

Comments

Audio

[bailedontheempire]

[Bail had no idea there was someone so young on this ship. He sounds not terribly older than Leia.]

There's a lot more to family than blood. If you care about someone like family, they are. Why don't you ask them how they feel about you calling them Mom and Dad?

Audio

[throwsdown]

I'm scared... maybe they won't like it.

What if they get mad at me? Or... If, I think--maybe it'll make things diff'rent.

Re: Audio

[bailedontheempire]

It might be a good sort of different though.

But if you aren't sure about Mom and Dad, you could also try Aunt and Uncle.

[He's been considering the matter of nouns lately]

Audio

[throwsdown]

Aunt and Uncle?

What's that mean?

[That sounds familiar... but he's never really had any family to compare such titles to — really, for a long while, it was just his mother and father. Then it was just his mother and men who came and went. Then — just his new adoptive dad.]

Re: Audio

[bailedontheempire]

An aunt is a parent's sister and an uncle is a parent's brother. Sometimes children will use the terms for other important adults in their lives.

Audio

[throwsdown]

[Gosh, that's a lot to learn at one go. For him, anyway. It's hard to visualize it all at once.]

Oh...

Do you think my mom had family people? More people than me? Do you think?

Re: Audio

[bailedontheempire]

She might have. It's difficult to guess without knowing her.

Audio

[throwsdown]

... I don't think I knowed her very well...

I never saw more family... it was just me and dad and mom for a really really tiny time... then it was just me and mom...

Re: Audio

[bailedontheempire]

[You poor child]

That sounds very lonely. But at least you had each other.

Audio

[throwsdown]

[He shakes his head off-screen.]

No, my mom... I don't think she wanted me neither.

But—!! I got a new dad at home, so... everything's better now.

Re: Audio

[bailedontheempire]

[That's... terrible. BUt no sense troubling the child]

What's your new dad like?

Audio

[throwsdown]

Oh, he's the best! He's really strong — super strong! And he's brave. He can fight monsters without even being scared or anything.

Re: Audio

[bailedontheempire]

I'm glad you have him, then. Children should always have someone to protect them from monsters.

Audio

[throwsdown]

Yeah.... but grown-ups need to have someone to protect them, too!

I think it's good to protect each other.

Re: Audio

[bailedontheempire]

That's a very thoughtful approach.

[He definitely approves]