𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃 ♛ ꜱᴘʏ ✗ ꜰᴀᴍɪʟʏ

ೃ⁀➷𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘴

╔══ ❀•°❀°•❀ ══╗
- ̥۪͙۪˚┊❛ 5 minutes later ❜┊˚ ̥۪͙۪◌

"I'd like this please," Anya waved a spy wars poster in the air.

"That costs 1 dalc, you can't buy it with a 10 pent coin," Loid sighed in exasperation.

Meanwhile Lia was still stuck trying to figure out what a pent was. Her effort was futile as she still couldn't recall a country in Europe with a currency in that name. Then again, she'd always been daydreaming during geography.

She wondered if Loid would judge her for her dumb question. She knew it would continue to gnaw at her if she didn't. Concluding that he would but couldn't muster the energy to care, she blurted,"Um, how much is a pent worth?"

Loid stared at her. Then stared a little more. Then opened his mouth, probably to say something disparaging about her intelligence, or lack of it when he was interrupted by-

"Please don't get rid of me!"

Bystanders began to turn curiously in their direction. And rightly so. It wasn't everyday you saw a display of such shitty parenting.

"What did you say to her?" Lia's tone was accusing.

"I didn't say anything!" he retorted defensively. There was a pregnant pause as they both waited for the other to do something about it.

Not being the only emotionally constipated person around was tiring.

"Just, stop crying for a sec Anya. What's wrong?"

"W-we're not smart enough and papa wants to send us back," she wailed.

Lia glared daggers over Anya's shoulder at Loid who shifted uneasily.

"When did he say that?"

Lia didn't exactly disagree that his though process was somewhere along those lines but she couldn't imagine he'd have the gall to voice it.

Anya hesitated. "He...he didn't."

"Then how do you know?" she said doubtfully.

"...I-I can just tell!"

Well, she was surprisingly intuitive she'd give her that.

"Papa, don't send us back. We're a good bargain!"

"Anya!" She pulled her off him. "A bargain, really? Half some self respect. We're not a Tesco meal deal."

From the looks on their faces they didn't quite get the analogy but nonetheless understood what she trying to say.

"Either way, he doesn't think that," Lia comforted. What she didn't know couldn't hurt her after all.

But for some reason, Anya became more panicked and her eyes began to water.

"H-hey Anya, please stop crying," she pleaded, lost for what to do.

Loid was still standing back, being of no help at all. The whispers and gazes from onlookers grew in fervour.

"Um, okay uh. Let's...get peanuts!"

The air was charged with something intangible as Lia pasted on a fake smile, challenging Loid to argue. It was the least he could do to buy a bag or two of peanuts after she had to step in for him.

"Yes, I'll buy you peanuts if you stop crying."

Anya immediately brightened at that, as if a light switch had gone off in her brain.

So by the end of that particular spectacle, Lia still didn't know what a hell a pent was.

- ̥۪͙۪˚┊❛One supermarket trip and 2 discounted bags of peanuts later...❜┊˚ ̥۪͙۪◌

"Papa, I'm tired..."

Loid looked over to Lia for help but she just shrugged and pointedly broke eye contact. It wasn't her job to give parenting lessons.

He ended up carrying her in one arm and the groceries in another, his gaunt face reflecting his exhaustion. Lia felt a twinge of jealousy spring up when noticing Anya had already fallen into a peaceful slumber.

Though Loid looked as though he'd be knocked over if a gust of wind hit him at the wrong angle, so she supposed she could be worse off.

It still made a funny picture and Lia wished she had a camera to capture the moment before it became a memory.

☏

Lia stood in front of the bathroom mirror, just within earshot of Loid's voice reading his parenting books muffled through the bathroom door.

There were scars. From what she could see, all over her body. Most notably on her arms, though there were possibly more in places she didn't know about yet. She traced the stitches that connected them in gory constellations.

Some were neat and uniform while others were messy and hurried. It was clear that these stitches hadn't all been sown at the same time. This had spanned over the course of a lengthy period, maybe even years.

Though, unlike stars, they weren't pretty. They stood out of course, it was hard not to when they were so vibrant against her pale skin. But not in the same way, dull and faded from age. How long ago, she couldn't tell, but they were far from recent.

Lia shivered, wondering how a 7 year old had this many scars. To be honest with herself, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer.

So she closed her eyes, counted to 5 and pretended that as long as she couldn't see them, they weren't there.

It worked, for the time being. She slipped on a long sleeved nightgown, hiding all the scars from view. For a minute she was convinced that she'd imagined them.

If only that were the case.

Then Lia forced her legs to traipse back to their shared room where Anya was already drooling and muttering about...sticks or something.

She slipped into a dreamless sleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

╚══ ❀•°❀°•❀ ══╝