Family Relations (Part Seven)
Monday, March 17th, 2014 07:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
challis_2070 posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
mindcrackloveLink to part six- http://mindcracklove.dreamwidth.org/597757.html
Pyro shivered slightly as he stared at his computer. Uncle Baj hadn’t done anything yet, but they still had dinner. Father would give him food and send him to his room when he was bad, Uncle Baj might do that as well. He wondered if this room could lock from the outside. He knew it couldn’t lock from the inside, he’d already looked.
Regardless of whatever punishment Uncle Baj was going to give him, he’d already decided what he was going to do tomorrow. Tomorrow was Sunday, and he had found out that there was a Catholic Church not two miles from the house. He intended to get up plenty early enough to walk there, with the map he had written down.
-----
Baj sighed as he stared at his tea. He could hear the boys making dinner, but had heard nothing from Paul’s room since he had finished his shower.
He was entirely uncertain of how to convince Paul that he was safe here and that nothing was particularly bad was going to happen to him while he was living here. He knew, of course, that what Paul wanted was to go home, but that was impossible.
Hm.
Perhaps he could call his mother and let him speak to her for a few moments? She wouldn’t be able to speak for long, but it might help Paul relax some if he heard her voice.
A few moments and one phone call later and he had his answer. She’d be able to talk to Paul after dinner and was looking forward to hearing from him.
-----
Millbee and Dinnerbone hustled about the kitchen, preparing dinner. It consisted of fish they were baking in the oven, a box mix for mashed potatoes, and a microwave bag of something they thought use to be corn.
They were both worried, they’d heard nothing from either dad or Pyro since dad had talked to them earlier. And given that they thought they’d heard shouting before dad had come out to talk to them, well…that couldn’t possibly be a good thing.
“So, yeah. Dinner. Dinner is looking good.”
“Yes. Um. I’ll set the table.”
Millbee sighed to himself as he grabbed the place settings and put them out. He didn’t really know how to get people to discuss things, and he figured that what needed to happen was for everyone to talk without freaking out at each other and remaining calm. But that was so not something he was good at doing.
Dinnerbone mumbled softly. Everyone needed to talk, without freaking out. How to do that was a good question, though. He had a suspicion that Pyro had learned early on that talking to anyone in any sort of position of power just made things worse. Now, though…he and Millbee…he didn’t think Pyro would necessarily see them as having any real power. This might be a good thing, in this case. You could get from the guest bedroom to the upstairs from the hallway, which, he though, Pyro may have noticed. If he had, then he could easily come up to them to talk to them.
Now, how to get him to realize that, then?
-----
Dinnerbone chewed on his lip as he walked down to the guest bedroom. Once they’d put the food on the table, Millbee had gone to tell dad that dinner was ready, so he’d gone to get Pyro.
He stood in front of the door for a few moments, contemplating it.
knock knock knock
The sounds of someone abruptly falling out of a chair could be heard before they moved to near the door.
Dinnerbone stared at the door, as Pyro hadn’t said anything. Why, was he waiting for him to say something?
“Um, Pyro, it’s dinner time.”
“Oh.”
“So, um…” Dinnerbone mumbled as he pulled open the door. Focused as he was on opening the door, he failed to notice Pyro backing up quickly as he did so.
“Eeeeeeeh. Um. Um. Dinner? I…am I welcome to it?”
Dinnerbone blinked. Soooooo, just what happened early that made him think he wasn’t going to get fed?
“Wha? Yeah, of course. That’s why I’ve come to get you for dinner.”
“Oh. Thank you. Yes. Thanks.”
Dinnerbone shook his head slightly as Pyro exited the room and closed the door behind him. He shrugged when Pyro didn’t move from there and he turned back towards the kitchen and started walking. Pyro started to follow behind him, which he realized, was probably what Pyro was waiting for him to do, go where the food was.
-----
Baj and Millbee sat at the table as Dinnerbone and Pyro entered the room. They both sat down as Baj and Millbee watched them.
“It’s, um….fish. With mashed potatoes and corn.”
“Ah, yeah. We’ve got some tartar sauce, if anyone wants it?”
-----
Baj took some of the food, while watching Paul. He looked very drawn and tired, but he looked cleaned up and not as messy as one would think crying would cause. Makes sense, thought Baj, he did take a shower after all. Perhaps he took the shower after he stopped crying, so that he could be clean for dinner.
-----
Pyro bowed his head in prayer, trying to ignore them staring at him.
Once he finished, he looked up at them. All four of them stared at each other for a long moment, before Baj made a sweeping motion with his arm towards the food and then towards Pyro.
He took that to mean to take some of the food, which he then did.
”Thank you, sir.”
-----
They spent the rest of the meal in uncomfortable silence.
As soon as they finished eating, they all quickly put the dishes away before standing around the table staring at each other.
Baj was the first one to break the silence.
“Max, Nathan. Why don’t you go buy us some…ice-cream… from the store down the street?” he said, handing fifteen pounds to Millbee.
They both stared at him for a long moment.
“Oh…okay…then…we’ll be back soon.”
At that, they both slowly made their way to the front door, before leaving.
-----
“Paul.”
“Yes, sir?”
Baj sighed and pulled out his cell phone before calling the room number he’d called early to talk to Lassarina.
“Here. It’s your mother. I called her earlier; she can talk to you now.”
Paul blinked at him before taking the phone.
“Thank you, sir.”
-----
Well, that was very confusing. Why was he letting him talk to ma?
"Dia duit, Pádraig, tá tú ann?"1
“Hello mummy. Yes, I’m here.”
"Cén chaoi a bhfuil tú ag déanamh?"2
“I’m…fine. How are you doing, mummy?”
"Níos Fearr, go raibh maith agat. Cén chaoi a bhfuil sé le do uncail?"3
“Everything is fine, mummy.”
"Pádraig, ní gá duit Béarla a labhairt liom nuair a tá gach rud breá. Cad atá cearr?"4
"Tá brón orm, Tá mé ag iarraidh a bheith go maith anseo. Ní dóigh liom go bhfuil mé ag déanamh an ceart sin, cé."5
"Oh ... ceart go leor ansin. Tabhair aire, éisteacht le do uncail. Is breá liom tú, Pádraig."6
"Is breá liom tú, máthair."7
With that, Paul handed the phone back to Baj. He figured that ma had probably hung up at that point, particularly since he hadn’t said he was going to give the phone back to Uncle Baj.
-----
Baj looked at Paul and sighed.
“Maybe you’ll be able to talk to her in the future more, hmm?”
“Yes sir, that would be nice.”
“Right.”
Paul stared at him for a long moment.
“What do you want me to do now, sir?”
What the hell was he supposed to do? He wasn’t certain…though…
“Just…look, just go to your room and think about what I told you. We’ll talk tomorrow. Remember, lights out by ten.”
Pyro looked at him and nodded at him.
“Yes sir. I’m sorry.”
With that, he turned and quickly went to him room and shut himself in.
-----
Dinnerbone and Millbee returned from the store shortly with the ice-cream.
They both blinked when they opened the front door and saw Baj standing there, waiting for them.
“Hello.”
“Um, hi dad?”
“Would you please put Paul’s ice-cream away? He’s in his room, and won’t be having any ice-cream. Thank you.”
“He…why not?”
Baj looked at Millbee as though Millbee was skirting very close to being sent to his own room.
“Because I said so.”
Both of them stared at each other before handing over Baj’s own ice-cream and going into the kitchen to eat their own.
-----
Pyro sighed and logged into the messenger to talk to his friend. He was still thinking about what Uncle Baj had said about speaking with his mother. Did he mean that if he wasn’t good, he’d get no info on how she was doing? If that was the case, he had to figure out what it was that Uncle Baj wanted him to do, or act like, or whatever it was that he was doing wrong.
“Hello, are you still online?”
“Yes Pyro, I’m studying for midterms, what is it?”
“MC8, I don’t know what to do. My uncle is upset at me and I can’t even figure out why.”
“Have you tried asking him?”
“He’s sent me to my room, MC.”
“Oh. Well, try asking him tomorrow or something? Don’t you have your cousins on here? Why not ask them?”
“Yeh. Maybe, good idea.”
“Okay. Look, I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
“Right. Good night MC.”
“Goodnight Pyro.”
-----
Dinnerbone looked around after Millbee had finished eating and had gone up to his room. Dad was in the living room with the television turned up and anyways, Dinnerbone knew how to be quiet. He quickly wrote a short note on a small piece of paper. He grabbed what would have been his second ice-cream bar (and leaving the one they got for Pyro) before sneaking over to Pyro’s room and quickly entering while hissing ‘shhhh’ at Pyro.
”Aaaah, Dinnerbone?”
“Yes. Here. Have ice-cream. I was told to not give it to you, but I thought it might make you feel better.”
“Dinnerbone, you can’t do that! If Uncle said no, you shouldn’t…”
“Its fine, he’ll have forgotten about it by the morning.”
With that, Dinnerbone pushed the ice-cream bar and note onto the desk before quietly leaving and closing the door quietly behind him.
-----
Translations and Notes!
1 "Hello, Patrick, are you there?"
2 "How are you doing?"
3 "Better, thank you. How is it with your uncle?"
4 "Patrick, you don't speak English to me when everything is fine. What's wrong?" He doesn’t normally speak English when he’s with his mother.
5 "I'm sorry, I'm trying to be good here. I don't think I'm doing that right, though."
6 "Oh...okay then. Take care, listen to your uncle. I love you, Patrick."
7 "I love you, mother."
8 Yes. It’s MCGamer. He’s distantly related to Pyro on his mother’s side. He was there on exchange when he was in grade school and is currently taking college classes at a University in Northern Ireland.
link to interlude three- http://mindcracklove.dreamwidth.org/599910.html#cutid1
Pyro shivered slightly as he stared at his computer. Uncle Baj hadn’t done anything yet, but they still had dinner. Father would give him food and send him to his room when he was bad, Uncle Baj might do that as well. He wondered if this room could lock from the outside. He knew it couldn’t lock from the inside, he’d already looked.
Regardless of whatever punishment Uncle Baj was going to give him, he’d already decided what he was going to do tomorrow. Tomorrow was Sunday, and he had found out that there was a Catholic Church not two miles from the house. He intended to get up plenty early enough to walk there, with the map he had written down.
-----
Baj sighed as he stared at his tea. He could hear the boys making dinner, but had heard nothing from Paul’s room since he had finished his shower.
He was entirely uncertain of how to convince Paul that he was safe here and that nothing was particularly bad was going to happen to him while he was living here. He knew, of course, that what Paul wanted was to go home, but that was impossible.
Hm.
Perhaps he could call his mother and let him speak to her for a few moments? She wouldn’t be able to speak for long, but it might help Paul relax some if he heard her voice.
A few moments and one phone call later and he had his answer. She’d be able to talk to Paul after dinner and was looking forward to hearing from him.
-----
Millbee and Dinnerbone hustled about the kitchen, preparing dinner. It consisted of fish they were baking in the oven, a box mix for mashed potatoes, and a microwave bag of something they thought use to be corn.
They were both worried, they’d heard nothing from either dad or Pyro since dad had talked to them earlier. And given that they thought they’d heard shouting before dad had come out to talk to them, well…that couldn’t possibly be a good thing.
“So, yeah. Dinner. Dinner is looking good.”
“Yes. Um. I’ll set the table.”
Millbee sighed to himself as he grabbed the place settings and put them out. He didn’t really know how to get people to discuss things, and he figured that what needed to happen was for everyone to talk without freaking out at each other and remaining calm. But that was so not something he was good at doing.
Dinnerbone mumbled softly. Everyone needed to talk, without freaking out. How to do that was a good question, though. He had a suspicion that Pyro had learned early on that talking to anyone in any sort of position of power just made things worse. Now, though…he and Millbee…he didn’t think Pyro would necessarily see them as having any real power. This might be a good thing, in this case. You could get from the guest bedroom to the upstairs from the hallway, which, he though, Pyro may have noticed. If he had, then he could easily come up to them to talk to them.
Now, how to get him to realize that, then?
-----
Dinnerbone chewed on his lip as he walked down to the guest bedroom. Once they’d put the food on the table, Millbee had gone to tell dad that dinner was ready, so he’d gone to get Pyro.
He stood in front of the door for a few moments, contemplating it.
knock knock knock
The sounds of someone abruptly falling out of a chair could be heard before they moved to near the door.
Dinnerbone stared at the door, as Pyro hadn’t said anything. Why, was he waiting for him to say something?
“Um, Pyro, it’s dinner time.”
“Oh.”
“So, um…” Dinnerbone mumbled as he pulled open the door. Focused as he was on opening the door, he failed to notice Pyro backing up quickly as he did so.
“Eeeeeeeh. Um. Um. Dinner? I…am I welcome to it?”
Dinnerbone blinked. Soooooo, just what happened early that made him think he wasn’t going to get fed?
“Wha? Yeah, of course. That’s why I’ve come to get you for dinner.”
“Oh. Thank you. Yes. Thanks.”
Dinnerbone shook his head slightly as Pyro exited the room and closed the door behind him. He shrugged when Pyro didn’t move from there and he turned back towards the kitchen and started walking. Pyro started to follow behind him, which he realized, was probably what Pyro was waiting for him to do, go where the food was.
-----
Baj and Millbee sat at the table as Dinnerbone and Pyro entered the room. They both sat down as Baj and Millbee watched them.
“It’s, um….fish. With mashed potatoes and corn.”
“Ah, yeah. We’ve got some tartar sauce, if anyone wants it?”
-----
Baj took some of the food, while watching Paul. He looked very drawn and tired, but he looked cleaned up and not as messy as one would think crying would cause. Makes sense, thought Baj, he did take a shower after all. Perhaps he took the shower after he stopped crying, so that he could be clean for dinner.
-----
Pyro bowed his head in prayer, trying to ignore them staring at him.
Once he finished, he looked up at them. All four of them stared at each other for a long moment, before Baj made a sweeping motion with his arm towards the food and then towards Pyro.
He took that to mean to take some of the food, which he then did.
”Thank you, sir.”
-----
They spent the rest of the meal in uncomfortable silence.
As soon as they finished eating, they all quickly put the dishes away before standing around the table staring at each other.
Baj was the first one to break the silence.
“Max, Nathan. Why don’t you go buy us some…ice-cream… from the store down the street?” he said, handing fifteen pounds to Millbee.
They both stared at him for a long moment.
“Oh…okay…then…we’ll be back soon.”
At that, they both slowly made their way to the front door, before leaving.
-----
“Paul.”
“Yes, sir?”
Baj sighed and pulled out his cell phone before calling the room number he’d called early to talk to Lassarina.
“Here. It’s your mother. I called her earlier; she can talk to you now.”
Paul blinked at him before taking the phone.
“Thank you, sir.”
-----
Well, that was very confusing. Why was he letting him talk to ma?
"Dia duit, Pádraig, tá tú ann?"1
“Hello mummy. Yes, I’m here.”
"Cén chaoi a bhfuil tú ag déanamh?"2
“I’m…fine. How are you doing, mummy?”
"Níos Fearr, go raibh maith agat. Cén chaoi a bhfuil sé le do uncail?"3
“Everything is fine, mummy.”
"Pádraig, ní gá duit Béarla a labhairt liom nuair a tá gach rud breá. Cad atá cearr?"4
"Tá brón orm, Tá mé ag iarraidh a bheith go maith anseo. Ní dóigh liom go bhfuil mé ag déanamh an ceart sin, cé."5
"Oh ... ceart go leor ansin. Tabhair aire, éisteacht le do uncail. Is breá liom tú, Pádraig."6
"Is breá liom tú, máthair."7
With that, Paul handed the phone back to Baj. He figured that ma had probably hung up at that point, particularly since he hadn’t said he was going to give the phone back to Uncle Baj.
-----
Baj looked at Paul and sighed.
“Maybe you’ll be able to talk to her in the future more, hmm?”
“Yes sir, that would be nice.”
“Right.”
Paul stared at him for a long moment.
“What do you want me to do now, sir?”
What the hell was he supposed to do? He wasn’t certain…though…
“Just…look, just go to your room and think about what I told you. We’ll talk tomorrow. Remember, lights out by ten.”
Pyro looked at him and nodded at him.
“Yes sir. I’m sorry.”
With that, he turned and quickly went to him room and shut himself in.
-----
Dinnerbone and Millbee returned from the store shortly with the ice-cream.
They both blinked when they opened the front door and saw Baj standing there, waiting for them.
“Hello.”
“Um, hi dad?”
“Would you please put Paul’s ice-cream away? He’s in his room, and won’t be having any ice-cream. Thank you.”
“He…why not?”
Baj looked at Millbee as though Millbee was skirting very close to being sent to his own room.
“Because I said so.”
Both of them stared at each other before handing over Baj’s own ice-cream and going into the kitchen to eat their own.
-----
Pyro sighed and logged into the messenger to talk to his friend. He was still thinking about what Uncle Baj had said about speaking with his mother. Did he mean that if he wasn’t good, he’d get no info on how she was doing? If that was the case, he had to figure out what it was that Uncle Baj wanted him to do, or act like, or whatever it was that he was doing wrong.
“Hello, are you still online?”
“Yes Pyro, I’m studying for midterms, what is it?”
“MC8, I don’t know what to do. My uncle is upset at me and I can’t even figure out why.”
“Have you tried asking him?”
“He’s sent me to my room, MC.”
“Oh. Well, try asking him tomorrow or something? Don’t you have your cousins on here? Why not ask them?”
“Yeh. Maybe, good idea.”
“Okay. Look, I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
“Right. Good night MC.”
“Goodnight Pyro.”
-----
Dinnerbone looked around after Millbee had finished eating and had gone up to his room. Dad was in the living room with the television turned up and anyways, Dinnerbone knew how to be quiet. He quickly wrote a short note on a small piece of paper. He grabbed what would have been his second ice-cream bar (and leaving the one they got for Pyro) before sneaking over to Pyro’s room and quickly entering while hissing ‘shhhh’ at Pyro.
”Aaaah, Dinnerbone?”
“Yes. Here. Have ice-cream. I was told to not give it to you, but I thought it might make you feel better.”
“Dinnerbone, you can’t do that! If Uncle said no, you shouldn’t…”
“Its fine, he’ll have forgotten about it by the morning.”
With that, Dinnerbone pushed the ice-cream bar and note onto the desk before quietly leaving and closing the door quietly behind him.
-----
Translations and Notes!
1 "Hello, Patrick, are you there?"
2 "How are you doing?"
3 "Better, thank you. How is it with your uncle?"
4 "Patrick, you don't speak English to me when everything is fine. What's wrong?" He doesn’t normally speak English when he’s with his mother.
5 "I'm sorry, I'm trying to be good here. I don't think I'm doing that right, though."
6 "Oh...okay then. Take care, listen to your uncle. I love you, Patrick."
7 "I love you, mother."
8 Yes. It’s MCGamer. He’s distantly related to Pyro on his mother’s side. He was there on exchange when he was in grade school and is currently taking college classes at a University in Northern Ireland.
link to interlude three- http://mindcracklove.dreamwidth.org/599910.html#cutid1
no subject
Date: Tuesday, March 18th, 2014 09:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Tuesday, March 18th, 2014 01:03 pm (UTC)On the plus side, Dinnerbone has partly figured this out, which is why he's given Pyro the note! So that's good.
no subject
Date: Wednesday, March 19th, 2014 04:58 am (UTC)I'm glad DB is figuring it out, it's frustrating that they're getting no where
no subject
Date: Tuesday, March 18th, 2014 09:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Tuesday, March 18th, 2014 02:00 pm (UTC)