Ah, here we go again, another view into the Parenting expertise of Jade and Tori West, the previous chapter was without a shadow of a doubt, quite emotional if not a little bittersweet, so in contrast, this chapter will be a little more on the "protective side."
That being said, do enjoy.
"What exactly is this supposed to be?" Jade wondered, holding her youngest daughter's latest drawing "Some kind of headless chicken or something?"
"I don't think so." Tori huffed, looking at the piece of paper "Tawny doesn't have your level of deranged creativity."
"Yet… Vega… Let's not give up hope."
"Do you think we should ask what it is?"
"Hold on… I think that if you hold it in a certain angle it kinda looks like a falling clown."
"Have you been reading to the kids your Clowns Don't Bounce play again?"
"Well I had to!" The thespian defended "After the twins watched some creepy ass clown show on TV, I had a hard time convincing them that it wasn't real."
"But it didn't work now did it?"
"You know how many times they interrupted our alone time because of their nightmares, I think that's pretty self-explanatory."
"And reading to them a play you wrote yeas ago about clowns, helps how?" Tori asked exasperatedly.
"Well what better way than to get the point across than to tell the girls that once clowns hit the floor from thousands of feet in the air, they don't get up, think of it like a lesson on gravity."
"That is seriously messed up!"
"Well you can't exactly argue with results, I mean it worked didn't it?!" Jade claimed "They haven't had anymore nightmares now, have they?"
"Yes, but apparently the girls have decided to express themselves by doing some real… troublesome drawing."
"Oh, please Vega, you're overreacting!"
"Oh, am I?" Tori snapped, grabbing her wife's arms and taking her over to the kitchen where the fridge had several drawings on it. "Then explain these!"
"What's to explain?" Jade shrugged "Our little girls have taken a liking to express themselves with crayons and paper, come on Tor, they're harmless pieces of abstract art, they probably don't even know what they're drawing."
"Abstract art!" Tori snatched a sketch from the fridge "Danielle drew this two days ago and I have no idea if it is a dead lizard or a severed hand!"
"Ohh, we have a future horror enthusiast in our hands!" Jade proclaimed proudly "Yeah, pun intended."
Tori narrowed her eyes, clearly not amused.
"We are talking to Dani and Tawny and getting to the bottom of this!"
She grabbed her wife's arm once more.
"Here we go again."
Do you have a dark blue crayon? Dani asked her sister.
"I think we used the last of it when we drew that sleeping bear."
"Aw, phooey."
"Knock, knock."
The twins turned from their drawings to the door of their room and subsequently, they're parents who were standing on the open doorway.
"Hi Mom, Hi Mama." The twins said at once.
"Hey girls." Tori said tentatively "What are you up to?"
"We're drawing!"
"And you two are doing a top-notch job."
"Top-notch?" Dani parroted curiously.
"It means excellent." Jade answered with an eye roll at her wife's feeble attempt to sound nonchalant. "What exactly are you working on."
"We don't know." Tawny replied this time.
"What you mean by you don't know?" Tori questioned as she stared down at her daughters' illustrations trying to see any indication of a possible form within.
"We're just seeing what we can come up with." Dani shrugged "The best stuff is done by accident, remember when I showed you the little piggy I made the other day?"
"That was a pig?" Jade asked. "Was it sick by any chance?"
"Nope… just sleeping."
"And by sleeping you mean…..?" Tori dragged out wanting to know what her child was going to say next.
"Sleeping." Dani replied confused. "I wanted the little pig to have a bed but then I thought, piggies don't have beds so I drew some hay but ran out of yellow and used red instead."
"Oh, thank goodness." Tori thought relieved "For a moment there, I thought she drew a bloodbath in there."
"What about these one?" Jade asked while pointing at what her daughters most likely finished not too long ago before starting a new.
"Oh, that's a unicorn!" Tawny replied "Aunt Cat keeps asking for one on her birthdays so I decided to make her one to put on her refrigerator, doesn't it look adorable?"
The thespian narrowed her eyes trying to see the actual shape of the so-called unicorn only to somehow see what she originally assumed was a fiddler crab.
"Uh… Yeah… Its unlike anything I ever seen."
"And what about this one Mija?"
"A flying moose."
"Why is it purple?" Tori asked.
"Because it makes him look chubby!"
"And what about that one?" Jade asked this time.
"Its us!" Tawny and Dani said at once, holding the piece of paper for their parents to see.
"Here is you Mom." Tawny said pointing at a crudely drawn black star.
"Here's Mama." This time Dani says, pointing at a brown star.
"And here we are!"
The twins pointed at two little pink and blue stars.
The West parents grabbed the drawing of the "star family" sharing a look before smiling.
"It's a work of art girls."
"Really Mama?" Tawny asked hopefully. "You really think so?"
"You two got talent." Jade grinned.
"But I gotta ask, why have you been making so many drawings lately?" Tori questioned "At the rate we're heading, we might need a like three others rooms to put all these masterpieces.
"Mom says the best way to express ourselves was being creative."
"Did she now?" Tori said, raising an eyebrow at her wife.
"Uh-uh!" Dani nodded "So we started drawing so we can we as creative as you guys!"
"Like us?"
"Yeah!" Tawny squealed "Creativity runs in the family, why not start now?"
"Girls, it's awesome that you want to follow in our footsteps but just because we are doesn't mean you should too."
"What do you mean Mama?" Danielle inquired
"I mean, that your paths are your own, you have a long time to decide what you want to be."
"So, we can be whatever we want when we grow up?"
"Yes."
"And you won't be disappointed in us?" Tawny questioned meekly.
"Hardly." Jade reassured her daughters "Whatever you end up doing in the future, we'll be more than proud, but that will be in a very long time and you shouldn't worry about that, what you should worry about is having fun and enjoy your childhood."
"Ok Mom."
"Hey at least they using paper this time instead of drawing on you." Tori teased.
"Thanks for reminding me of that, Vega."
"My pleasure, baby."
"Now it's 9'o Clock." Jade said "And I believe that its time for two little girls to go to bed."
"Can you tell us the clown story again mom?" Dani requested "I wanna hear how they don't bounce!"
"I see you two gotten over your fear of clown." Tori commented.
"We were never afraid! Were we Tawny?"
"NUN-UH!"
"If you say so." Tori said with a smile.
As the twins put on their pajamas and their parents tuck them in, Jade started once more telling her why clowns don't bounce story.
Tori of course noticed something odd as she heard the story along with her daughters.
After the twins finally closed their eyes the two women gently walked out of the bedroom and left the nightlight on before closing the door.
Tori raised an eyebrow.
"What's with the look Vega?"
"Oh nothing." The Half-Latina says airily "Its just… your story was different somehow, I remember seeing the play on opening night and I distinctly remember there being a lot of blood and body parts being sent flying in all directions but in there? Not a mention of that, care to explain?"
"Oh, fine Vega, you caught me!" Jade snapped "I told the girls the edited version of my play, I may get a kick out of scaring strangers in my work but I was not about to frightened out little girls, they're too young to see the full creativity of my horror expertise!"
"Aw, big bad Jade West has a limit to her scariness." Tori teased "Good to know."
"Keep that up and you'll know just how scary I can be." Jade hissed warningly. "I'm the Mistress of Horror and don't you forget it!"
"Sure, you are baby."
"You're walking on thin ice Vega."
"I think I remember that time when you nursed a bunny back to health when we were in high school." Tori snickered playfully "I think the mistress of horror isn't so terrifying after all."
I WARNED YOU!" Jade bellowed as she pounced on her wife, both women rolling on the floor until Tori ended up on top.
"Warning noted but still wasn't scary."
Jade narrowed her eyes and wit some effort managed to turned her spouse over so she would be on top. "Now repeat after me Vega, No one scarier than me!"
"No one's scarier than me!" Tori repeated with a smirk.
"Very funny."
"I know." Tori said with a kiss "Now how about we take this to our bedroom and you show me how scary you can truly be?"
"Oh, I intend to!" Jane smirked wickedly, holding her spouse bridal style and taking her towards their bedroom.
Two Hours later:
The twins entered their parents' bedroom, both holding some plush toys.
"Mom?... Mom?" Tawny poked Jade a few times till the thespian managed to wake up.
"Girls?" The Thespian yawned "What's the matter?"
"We heard some strange noises." Danielle said "Can we sleep with you and Mama?"
"Strange noises?" Jade parroted "Oh crap."
The Thespian began to poke her wife "Vega?... Wake up."
"Jade? What's the matter?"
"Mama, we heard some noises." Tawny uttered "We want to sleep with you and Mom."
Suddenly the Half-Latina was wide awake, making sure that the sheets wouldn't reveal anything from the neck down.
"Son of a pop star!"
Drawings can be interpreted in several ways and kids don't grasp that because they're so innocent than more often than not that causes trouble, in the end, Jade and Tori here did the right thing by talking to their daughters instead of thinking of the worst-case scenario and as we read, the twins wanted to be as "creative" as their parents.
That being said they look up to them, lets remember than the parents are usually a kid's first heroes and protectors.
And the part where Jade "edited" her version of "Clowns Don't bounce" to the twins? Now wasn't that cute? XD.
Anyway, your opinion on this chapter? Do you guys think it was good? Bad? Decent?
Invader Johnny Signing Off.