Perfect Enough
(A.N: Considering I haven't exactly uploaded anything here in like forever, whoopsie! I'd figure hey, why not just post up on of the numerous drabblish things I've been writing in my spare time and putting up on my Tumblr? Their not exactly incredibly long, short and sweet, but here's one of my favorites that I put up back in February, enjoy!)
Nightfall had descended upon the Delightful Children from down the Lane's mansion, softly illuminating it's tall orange spires in the thin wavelengths of moonlight that managed to break through the patchy clouds that blanketed the night sky, easily disguising the vibrant glow of the stars that dotted the blackened expanse devoid of day, and leaving nothing more but a constant foreboding haze rolling across the full moon. The natural nightlight flickering like a bulb on it's last leg. The mansion itself was dark, with a few windows displaying artificial light from within, but for the most part, the home was free of copious illumination. Deep within the enormous home's confines, the owner of the looming abode sat alone in his office, perfectly content to toil and work into the waning hours of the evening.
Father released a soft sigh as he sat hunched over his deep cherry oak desk, the material so dark that it almost seemed a crimson red when the lamp light from nearby struck it's smooth finish, with inlaid grooves of pen and pencil marks alike revealing themselves, along with the occasional scorch mark one would only need to take one guess for it's prominence along the glossy surface. The adults softly glimmering golden eyes flickered upwards as the ear-rattling gong of a grandfather clock nearby tolled off the hour. 9 p.m precisely. A niggling,gnawing feeling of worry pressed against the adult's chest, the same feeling he had been receiving as the nighttime hours had become later and later, and once again the sensation was swallowed up through a simple brief exercise of willpower.
They would return home soon enough, they always did, Father internally mused in his subconscious, returning to his work and trying to ignore the soft ticks of the clock, tolling off each quiet minute of absolute stillness, the lonely accompaniment to his pen scratching softly on his paperwork. The minutes drug by, and soon enough the clock was gonging off again, 9:30, and with each chime the adults head rose, his slivered golden eyes practically twitching by the time 5 gongs rolled around, and with a soft growl the adult began upraising his palm, his digits, then his entire hand becoming wreathed in golden,orange flames, with a louder growl the adult abruptly sat up in his office chair, preparing to chuck a fireball at the accursed timepiece as it began continuously gonging over and over as it struck nine, until a soft creak accompanied its abrupt end. Father's breathing hitched and the fire spluttered out immediately, as if doused by imaginary liquid.
The shadow cloaked man sunk back down into the crimson upholstery that covered the back of his chair, hands folded as he regarded the inadvertent saviors of the time-teller, and the sources of the 'feeling' for most of his evening hours thus far, one eyebrow upraised in a telling perplexion. The Delightful Children from down the Lane stood somberly in the doorway, their normally immaculately kept clothing was rumpled and disheveled, but more oddly, they were dripping with what appeared to be some form of bright, almost eye-blinding so, pink foaming hand soap, with gobs of rainbow covered feathers stuck allover them every which way, as if they had just suffered an attack by a gaggle of germaphobic, artistic preschoolers.
The quintet shuffled forward across the office, their 10 eyes trained to the floor they were currently tracking soap and feathers across, though despite the humorous elements about them, the children seemed truly dejected. Stopping before the adults desk, and almost as if pained them to even do so, slowly looked up at the adult, each sharing a soft, solemn frown, their figures tensing, as if preparing for the verbal bludgeoning they would surely soon receive. Father blinked slowly, and at last found himself capable of forming words. "Your home rather late, my children"The adult spoke quietly, though his gravely tone was decisively masked, practically emotionless. The Delightfuls blinked their listless blue eyes and nodded slowly, using every bit of nerve they held to retain eye contact. "Tell me, did you manage to retain your cake this time? It would truly upset me to know that such an effort on my part was wasted at the hands of bumbling, undeserving brats"The man remarked, of course the brats he was so offhandedly referencing too were the Kids Next Door, though he knew his children would pick up on what he was mentioning, they usually always did.
Of course, what the children did next managed to catch the fire-spewing man entirely off guard. The quintet frowns became more prominent,and their lips began quivering, looking further upwards at him with rapidly misting eyes, no doubt blurring their vision. "N-No Father...we didn't"The 5 children spoke, their monotone choked with the fizzling end cap of long barricaded emotion, and before the literal Father figure could formulate his reply of sure disappointment, the group of disheartened youngsters burst into tears, shocking him backwards in his chair with the eye size of dinner plates. "W-W-We tried our b-best F-Father, we s-swear!"The quintet spluttered through tears, their sobbing echoing in the expanse of the office. The tears were genuine, and it was clear the Delightfuls truly had reached the end of their figurative, toleration rope, and helplessly descended themselves into the tried and true childhood staple of crying when everything went down the metaphorical drain.
Father sat wideyed and still in his chair, watching the 5 children sobbing their eyes out before him, something, try as he might, could not recall the last time they actually had. "Children.."The adult trailed off, leaning slowly forward in his chair, palms resting on the edge of his desk, but the Delightful Children continued to carry on, unable to really hear much of anything through their self-supplied din. Father frowned beneath his silhouette, his pipe swishing back and forth in his mouth, softly biting down on the tip as he formulated a new course of action. With a under the breath sigh the man climbed out of his chair, the piece of furniture creaking softly at the release of his weight, striding around the desk's edge, before briefly pausing at his bawling childrens sides. The usually so proud fivesome didn't even bother looking up, their heads tilted down to the lavender colored, carpeted floor as tears cascaded down their pale features like a never-ending tidal wave.
The man released a soft groan as he leaned reluctantly forward, tackling the difficult task of trying to hug all five of them at once, but somewhat successfully managing to pull them close enough to where one hand rested on David's back, and the other just barely met Ashley's shoulder. The Delightfuls breathing hitched in their throats, the better part of their tears halting like a twisted water faucet, slowly looking upwards at the source of comfort, practically feeling their blood temperature shoot from ice, to warm again in surprise. Father frowned beneath his silhouette once more, "Shush"The weary adult spoke softly, ignoring the sudsy soap and the feathers now clinging partially to his own body. The Delightfuls sniffled together, their tears reducing to a slow trickle, like water running slowly down a cluster of river rocks as they gazed upwards. "B-But Father.."The quintet began to chorus, until they were cut off by another quick "Shh" from the shadow cloaked adult. "I'm not mad at you my children, disappointment is always disperse-able"Father spoke simply, his pitch-black pipe giving a quick swish between his concealed molars as he did his best to hold his sniffling children close. The Delightfuls swallowed thickly, the edges of their eyes faintly holding a reddish tint amongst the sea of identical pale blue.
"W-We tried Father, we really d-did"The quintet softly uttered, shifting subconsciously closer to the adult as he kept his arms wrapped around them, Bruce's feather filled hair gingerly brushing against the adults arm as he leaned partially against it. "I know you did my children,but the attempt is all that matters to me..."The man trailed off, getting a sudden sappy Hollywood movie vibe from his words, but quickly forced himself to push it off to return to the admittedly important task at hand. "But you w-worked all night on that cake.."The DC snuffled softly, their tears had halted, the man observed, a faint smile playing along his hidden features. "There's always next month"Father spoke with a little twitch of his pipe, unable to dismissively swish his hand in his current state. "We suppose that is t-true.."The Delightful Children murmured in soft agreement. Father hummed softly, the reverberation of muted noise expanding in his windpipe, uncurling one arm from around the now much calmer children,only one since Bruce was still leaning against his other.
"Now there, there children, dry those eyes"The adult continued with a concealed frown, taking his thumb and softly wiping away the stray tears that continued to cling rebelliously to the youngsters tear-stricken features. The simple display of comfort successfully garnered the result the adult had been after, as small, though admittedly weak smiles made their way upon the 5's faces. "Yes Fatherrrr"The Delightfuls droned out together in compliance, Ashley's lips twitching slightly as the golden haired blonde held back a small peal of laughter as the adult brushed a cluster of brightly colored feathers from her hair. "Now if you don't mind me asking, how did all of this get attached to you..?"Father trailed off in inquiry, the soapy feathers filtering through his pitch-black digits, fluttering to the floor below. The Delightfuls blinked collectively, frowning with a collective expression allay-able to pure befuddlement. "Hoagie shot it out of some sort of cannon"The youngsters supplied in a slow chorus, feeling as if they'd smell of bubblegum for weeks, considering that was the soap's irregular fragrance.
"How very creative...I think"Father replied with a bewildered raise of his brow, the Delightfuls responded in a soft, tentative chorus of chuckles, before falling quickly silent, not wanting to rattle up the delicate cage about their literal father figures nerves, despite the fact that he seemed in a rare good mood this evening, relishing in the sense of comfort that seemed to waver unseen about the office. The adult blinked, snapping his fingers on one hand as an idea crossed his mind. "I know, how about you 5 go fetch the blueprints for the comic to history book modulator that you've been working on all week?"Father suggested, the Delightfuls pale blue eyes immediately going alight in controlled excitement.
"Oh at once Father!"The quintet gasped, backing away and racing from the room, their excitement expressing itself in their actions as opposed to their facial expressions, further stirring up the piles of soap suds and feathers along the office floor, the brightly colored craft implements stirring around in tiny tornadoes, blow about by the minor blast of artificial wind the jubilant goody goody children had created. The adult sighed as the stillness returned, wiping a shadow cloaked hand across his forehead, as if to streak away non-existent sweat. Turning around with a small nod of accomplishment, preparing to head back over to his desk when he got his second surprise of this quite interesting evening. In a form of a tackle hug from behind, several pairs of arms winding themselves around his stomach, the enemy of children everywhere twisted around to the best of the ability, his golden eyes once again matching up to the unmistakable size of dinner plates in a simple exercise of shock.
The Delightful Children smiled up at him, obviously having changed course to run back into the office, and the source of the tackle hug of course, gratitude and unmistakable adoration shining softly in their 10 eyes. "We love you Fatherrrr"The quintet chorused, their eyes briefly slipping shut as they continued to smile, genuinely, unlike the shiver worthy grins or smirks they flashed constantly at adversary's. Father briefly twitched his pipe, the shadow cloaked entity at a loss for words of his own, children saying they hated him, despised and thought him a monster from the very depths of evil itself, some children had quite the imaginations, Father was all too familiar with. His own children ,of course, were an exception, heck, the man highly doubted they had a hateful bone against himself in their bodies, maybe a passing dislike on certain occasion's at the very least.
But once again he failed to scrounge up a memory of them openly outpouring enough affection to say they loved him, and within the bouts of sarcasm he often showed them, the adult had to admit he was a little fond of them too. Triviality's aside, he felt a smile cross his unreadable features, placing a hand atop Ogie's head, the closest one in reach, her towering braids dipping down slightly beneath the weight of his palm. "Likewise"He spoke with a voice as soft as a wisping candle flame, and then felt a tiny smirk cross his lips next at an inkling of his own private humor. If this didn't get him parent of the year award, figuratively speaking, he didn't know what would.
End Transmission