Not Good at Nice

Five years ago, Aeryn had been a Peacekeeper soldier on Earth temporarily, at a school where she couldn't read anything and understood almost nothing anyone was saying.

Today, she had been graduated for three years, lived here long enough to at least fake that she belonged here, and was watching a two-year-old fling his food to the floor because he didn't like it.

"We're going to have to have this talk again, aren't we?" Aeryn sighed, not sure if she should be mad at this point or just resigned to the fact that daily mopping of food from the floor had become a part of life.

Talyn shook his head, and asked hopefully, "Cookie?"

There was another sigh, and Aeryn decided she was going with resigned.

[Look, it's the anniversary, of course I'm spamming the flist with my characters. Open for the boy or calls or whatever.]

The best part about this job in Aeryn's mind had to be watching and internally mocking the people who came to the gym early in the morning after being out way too late partying last night. "In a way," she said, leaning on the desk and watching some man on the treadmill, "you have to admire the dedication."

"No, I really don't," said her coworker Lindsay, swiping someone's card before letting them into the gym.

"They might still be drunk, that's the only way I'd think coming here was a good idea," she continued.

"Laugh all you want, new girl's on cleanup duty when the hungover people puke."


[Because I have been to the gym on NYD. Yes, this had to happen.]

Aeryn hadn't had great experiences with Parents Weekends in the past, but it was interesting seeing it from a different perspective. And without drama. That would be really new.

Her door was open and she was doing work, mostly to look busy in case anyone came by wanting to to talk about their family members/friends. Or, you know, is any parents were wondering what the frell her class title meant.


[Open yes omg.]

Aeryn was discovering that after spending a year and a half at a job she hated, getting up early to come in even when you didn't have to for a job you liked was kind of nice. Especially when the alternative was trying to plan class from home while chasing after a tiny child who insisted on walking now.

She'd stopped at the Perk on her way for coffee, and was now ignoring it in favor of her laptop as she did research for class. It paid to actually know what she was talking about.


[Open door, yadda yadda.]

( about the class )

( aeryn as a teacher: this one gives detention )

( the ta search )

Aeryn didn't have to go in to work for a few hours yet, but her relaxing morning ended about the time Talyn tried to pull himself up using the sofa and grabbed onto the pillow instead. He didn't even hit anything when he fell, but the fact that he fell at all seemed to be enough to upset him.

He didn't cry for long, especially not with Aeryn telling him simply, "You're not even hurt," but when he stopped he just decided to stay in a bad mood, fussing and dropping things to the ground whenever he could reach something.

Aeryn couldn't do much but sigh at him, muttering, "Of course you have to have an attitude about this sort of thing."


[Open for the husband, or calls, or general distractions.]

Of course Aeryn had to work Christmas Eve. The fact that she had to deal with all the last-minute shoppers almost made it not worth the money. Shockingly, she wasn't much of a people person.

She thought she'd escaped by being able to spend a lot of time in the stockroom, but came out when she was called on the speaker into a mass of parents trying to get through the crowd to the toy aisle. She could tell they were parents due to the screaming children in the carts. Not for the first time, she was extremely grateful that Talyn was good. There was one mother in particular who caught her eye, as both of her small boys were throwing full-on tantrums that she was completely ignoring, even when one threw himself on the ground in front of and old woman's cart. (Aeryn actually noticed a lot of behavior like that working here.)

For a moment she thought she'd blacked out, but when she felt a little less disoriented the boys were still screaming and the mother was now answering her ringing cell phone and covering her free ear.

It had been a long time since Aeryn'd snapped a neck, but she was sure she could still do it. She'd give hera by since it was Christmas.

After spending yesterday at John's family's Thanksgiving, Aeryn had to be sure to be back home in time to go to work today. At Wal-Mart. At four-something in the morning. The poor thing had been unemployed this time last year, she didn't know how bad it would really be.

Which was why when she finally got back home way later than she had expected, she made sure Talyn was all settled before sitting down at the computer.


To: Fandom High Group
From: Aeryn Sun
Subject: (None)

WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME WHAT BLACK FRIDAY REALLY WAS.


-A


[If you think you got it, you probably did. Open for calls, E-mails, whatever, I m bored and haven't tortured Aeryn in a while.]

After so long on the run from the mob and a very powerful Greek family, Aeryn was glad to be settled down in her old home again with her own real family. True, she kept a bag of supplies ready in case they needed to take off suddenly, but the chances of that happening were less and less as time went on. And Talyn had grown into such a wonderful young police officer, and the best part was that Aeryn had barely aged a day.

Still, she felt restless at times, which was why she had to do things like take long walks around the island. She'd climb onto the rocky bits and look out at the ocean and remember things like her childhood, simpler times before she and John had to start their life on the run. Yes, she was pretty happy with her life these-

Oh, hey, that was a rock she was slipping on.

Aeryn managed to grab a hold of a rock before she fell, but her grip was slipping and she didn't know how she was going to hold on. Thinking she was done for, she was amazed to see a squirrel at the top of the rock, offering its tiny hand.

Aeryn let go with one hand to try and grab his, but she couldn't do it, and plunged into the icy waters below, pretty sure the last thing she heard was a tiny squirrelly "Noooooooooooooooooo!!!"

They'd waited a while to bring Talyn home, mostly because Aeryn didn't really want to subject a newborn to intergalactic space travel just yet. However, they couldn't hang out in the Uncharted Territories forever, and it was actually a really good idea not to stay there for too long, and that meant it was time to bring the baby back finally.

Having become nicely- and wholly- attached, Aeryn was still holding Talyn as they walked into the apartment. "Welcome home," she told him, not caring that he had no idea what she was saying.


[For the babydaddy!]