Peace [Yumi]

[Ian Hunt]

So, this is not fun, I decide. Who's bright idea was this anyway?
Mine, of course it was. And ideas are not my strong point.
I hate the muggle world, I have always hated the muggle world, I will always hate the muggle world. And I hate public places because they're full of people.
So a park in the muggle world wasn't all that brilliant an idea, all in all.

Although, I needed to get out of the house. I planned to go for a walk, on my own, to clear my head, but opening the door had proved a mistake as Claire had just been going to knock.
She had a date or something, and she asked if I could please, please, please look after Matthew for a couple of hours.
I really don't mind my nephew, he's pretty okay in fact. But he is a nine year old boy and nine year old boys are quite annoying.

So then, it turned into taking Matthew off somewhere where he could be kept amused and I could clear my head and then everyone would be happy.
On my second attempt at leaving the house, Maddie beat me to it, so I couldn't leave Poppy and Alex and Abby on their own but I couldn't stay in the house with four kids.

And then it turned into a mass expedition, in which time Poppy announced she was going off to meet with a load of thugs and have lots of unprotected sex in that way that she goads for reaction, and then Kristopher turned up and dropped Daniel off with me as well so he could go and spend some time with Meredith which is disgusting because he's old.
So it's a dropped one, gained one situation.

It seemed to make sense to bundle everyone here, and now Alex (who hasn't said one word to me in over a fortnight now or even given me eye contact), Matthew and Daniel are all tearing around on the grass and hitting each other sticks, and probably giving each other irreparable brain damage, but at least they're having fun in the process and I can see all three of them clearly from where I'm sitting with Abby.
Abby is raking her fingers through the grass and looking for God knows what and my plans of clearing my head are out the window but at least I'm out of the house.

I close my eyes for just a second, but open them again immediately as I hear Abby laugh. Small children only laugh when they're doing something evil, so she must be doing something evil.
I manage to catch the bug she's raising to her mouth just before it touches her lips, putting it down on the other side of me so she can't pick it up again.
"No, Abby."
She throws her bottom lip out and reaches up wildly as if I'm holding the beetle above her just out of her reach.
"Abigail Claire Hunt-Speare, you stop that right now," I murmur.
"I'm Abigail Claire Hunt-Speare!" She bellows.
I rest my forehead against my palm in exasperation.
Apparently, it's too much to ask for a little peace.

[Yumi Hart]

As Yumi walked along she's suddenly hit with the fact that she's starting to get to a point where, well as her children have put it, old. She knows that they're just joking around, or somewhere to that extent. They know nothing about being old seeing as they're only 14, 12, and 10. If she was 24 they would probably say she's old. But now as Yumi near 30 years of age she can't help but start to agree with them. It just seemed weird.

But as she continued along the crowded sidewalk Yumi knew that nothing was normal. The fact that she was in Muggle London was weird enough. Ever since Mia had turned eleven and went to her frst year at Hogwarts Yumi had drawn in closer to the Wizard world, wanting to try and be as close to her daughter as she could. And now seeing as Mia and Fabian were both attending Hogwarts and Emily was going to be attending this coming school year most likely, Yumi was more attached to magic than she ever was.
"Quit it!"

Hearing those two very over-used words Yumi closed her eyes and looked up in front of her where Emily and Fabian were starting to fight yet again. From what Yumi could see, Emily was poking Fabian over and over, then jumping back quickly as soon as he'd try and swat her away. Walking a bit quicker so she could catch up with them, Yumi was very grateful that Mia had gone off to do her own thing because Yumi knew that if Mia was here she'd have two children against Emily.

"Hey, guys, remember act like people in public." Yumi says to them both, but looking over at Emily. They both knew that Yumi didn't mean any hurt in her words and she was just teaseing them. "Where are you guys leading me anyways?" She asked as she ruffled Fabians long black hair.

"Park." Emily answered with a wide grin as she tried walking backwards making one of her eyes go cross, and sticking her tounge up in the air. Yumi couldn't help but think that Emily has probably been spending to much time with Poppy. "Stop you," Yumi chuckled softly reaching her arms forward torwards Emily and turning her around the correct way.

She only stayed like this for a matter of moments before the trio came into view of the park and Emily rushed off with a wide grin. It wasn't that park that had gotten her so happy, it was the fact that Ian and a mass of children were there in the area with him.
"Why is she so weird mum?" Fabian asked as he ruffled his hair back into place. Yumi shrugged as she ruffled his hair back out of place only to unnerve him ad watched Emily practically attack Ian.
She probably hadn't noticed the three boys playing with the sticks. Well, yet.

[/blockquote]

[Ian Hunt]

I'm still being mildly exasperated and not paying any attention at all to any of the things I should be paying attention to when I'm attacked.
My first instinct is to reach for my wand and my hand sort of does that automatically until my brain grinds into gear and I remember there's a different between being violently attacked and being Emily attacked.
I don't even wander where she's come from anymore. I'm sort of used to occasionally being rushed in public. I always know when Yumi's around, because Emily always gets to me first it seems.

I manage to pull her off a little bit so she's at normal distance and I can greet her like a normal person.
"Yes, hello there," I grin, idly brushing her hair back off her forehead and letting it sink in just how much more she reminds me of Rowan this time round of seeing her, "You'll get arrested if you keep doing that to people."
"Em'ly!" Abby laughs, throwing her hands in the air in Emily's direction, just in case she's forgotten who she is and needs reminding.

I chance a brief glance at the boys to make sure everyone's still standing, which they are, and they all seem to be pretty oblivious to what's going on over here anyway, and then wave briefly at Yumi and Fabian as I see them approaching.

[Yumi Hart]

Emily grins up at Ian and nods. "Mum's told me that." She nods in a as-matter-of-fact way. She reaches one hand up and pokes Ian on the shoulder a few times, just like she had done so to Fabian earlier, before he quickly loses her attention and glances down at Abby waveing at her, grin still in place. Looking around she finally sees the boys playing with the sticks and rushes over joining in.

By this time Yumi and Fabian reached over to the bench where Ian is sitting. "Got two choises, make sure your sister doesn't get killed-in-action or sit here with me and Ian." Yumi says to Fabian, ruffling his hair just once more to annoy him slightly.
"Mum!" He groans swatting her hand away as he walks over to where Abby was sitting on the ground. He lays down a little bit away from her and puts his hands over his eyes.
"Hello Ian." Yumi says with a smile sitting on the bench next to him and grins down at Abby. "Hey there you," She says to her.
"I want to go hang out with Mia!" Fabian groans.
"To late now, gave you the choise when we left. Stuck with us now." She calls over to him and rolls her eyes slightly looking back to Ian. Mia had gone out with a few of her girlfriends to-..Well do something that Yumi should know.

[/blockquote]

[Ian Hunt]

"I bet she has," I reply, watching her race off to join the others and almost dreading the consequences.
Matthew is the first to notice her, predictably. He's a reader, just like Claire which can get really annoying. A nine year old reader is not a good person to be around at times. And because he gets distracted he promptly gets hit round the back of the head, pretty hard by both Daniel and Alex at the same time.
Emily will probably knock them all silly, for which I'm glad as they probably deserve it.

"Hey Yumi," I grin slightly, "How's life?"
Abby laughs enthusiastically at Yumi's greeting, and then stumbles over to where Fabian's laying and flings herself across his back, "Faban!"
I decide it's probably best to ignore this and just let her get on with whatever it is she's trying to do and hope that Fabian doesn't mind too much. And it's probably best to just let the boys and Emily kill each other. I'm having a pretty lax parenting day.

[Yumi Hart]

Wincing slightly as she watched Matthew get hit in the back of the head, Yumi looks over and chuckles softly watching Abby and Fay. He has a soft spot for her in his heart, and Yumi can see that clearly as he rolls over to his his back sitting Abby in his lap letting her beat up on him and such. Yumi can see a small smile beneath that mop of hair of his.

Yumi nodded with a small smile looking back at Ian. "It's going. You-" She starts but is cut off by her daughters loud screaming. Her first thought was that Emily was hurt or sometihng along those lines, but then she remembers that this is Emily and that wasn't a scream of pain and was probably jsut a scream to scream. Looking over she can see Emily doings a running tackle, and her attack is directed as Alex. Yumi chuckled softly then looked over at Ian.

"But Mia might possibly have something close to a boyfriend, so if that tells you anything." She adds. She's sure even Ian will be able to get the problem in this because Yumi had told Mia no boys until she was at least 15. Everyone in the family, and all of the family-friends knew this because she had told them many times after an incident with Belle a few months earlier where she had convinced Belle that she was in fact allowed to see boys.

[/blockquote]

[Ian Hunt]

"Faban! Faban! Faban!" Abby is apparently delighted by the opportunity to beat someone up who will tolerate her, so she stops trying to beat him up all together and sits there with a wide grin plastered across her face.
It's a good job I've long since given up on hoping that any of my children will be normal.

I start to nod at her answer but instantly get distracted by Emily's scream, punctuated by Matthew and Daniel cheering her on. That's really not good, by the looks of it.
Alex, thankfully, takes the tackle head on and doesn't put up much of a fight before he falls, but manages to drag her with him at least.

"I'm going to be in trouble, I think," I laugh slightly, nodding at the brawl, "Maddie, Claire and Mez are not going to be happy."
Then I nod carefully, "Ah. The joys of adolescence, right?" I raise an eyebrow.
Poppy's not really interested in boys yet, thankfully, but she's just not really interested in people her own age, or just friends in general. She just likes to tell me that she's going out to do drugs and have a lot of unprotected sex and she might come home and she might not, but that's only because she's trying to gage a reaction.

[Yumi Hart]

Fabian just sits there looking downa nd her, tickleing her side a few time playing around with her. Yumi couldn't help but look at her son in a dfferent light every time she saw him with Abby or when him and EMily were actualy getting along. He wasn't the most emotional person on this planet and to see him laugh and play with Abby, well some people would see it as odd. Yumi understood him..Slightly.

After Alex falls down Emily stands up almost instantly an looks between Matthew and Daniel before launching herself over at Daniel. Yumi laughed softly and nodded her head. "Oh I'm going to have to be present when they all find out and plot your downfall together." She jokes looking back at Ian.

Yumi nods and laughs softly. "Joy isn't the word. More like about-to-put-my-daughter-on-house-arrest-because-I'm-not-sure-if-I-can-trust-her-yet-with-that-boy kind of thing." Yumi looks back out at Emily without noticeing. "Poppy still-..Well Poppy?" Yumi asks. The only reason she had said that was because triyng to summrize Poppy in one word was impossible.

[/blockquote]

[Ian Hunt]

Abby squirms away, laughing as he tickles her. It's pretty good to see her being friendly with anyone really.
It's just good to know her. It's been a year since I came home, and at first she used to give me looks like 'who are you?' all the time, but now I only get them occasionally. That's getting better at least, somehow I don't think I can fix the rift between me and Alex so easily and that's really quite bleak.

"Every man for hisself!" Matthew bellows, charging across the grass and away from Daniel and Emily.
Daniel puts up more of a fight than Alex. He has no problems with fighting a girl at least. I really don't think he's going to win though, somehow.
And I hope that Matthew comes back into my line of vision soon or I'm going to have to tell Claire that I lost her son again and then I'm going to have a black eye for weeks.
"Thanks Yumi. Nice to know someone's on my side," I laugh slightly.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. Have to grow up sometime," I shrug slightly.
I glance sideways at her with a small laugh, "You mean derranged? Yes, she's still derranged."
I don't say this to be cruel or to say that it's bad thing, but I do mean it. There is something seriously not right in my daughter's brain and much as it's slightly amusing and slightly worrying, I'm sort of glad that she's not normal anyway.

[Yumi Hart]

Fabian grins standing up, pulling Abby up in his arms lifiting her up above his head every now and then. Yumi is glad to see him out of the little angry, depressed state he tends to get in after visits to azkaban. Which is expected, but Yumi still wanted Fabian to see Sirius every couple of months. Yumi believed in her heart that he was completely innocent, knowing that Sirius would never do anything of the sort that he had been accused of.

Emily fights back against Daniel triyng her hardest to tackel him down to the ground. She stops almost instantly as Matthew starts to run away and gets off of Daniel just looking at him run away. It was almost like she had expected him to wait around so she could attack him, ad him running away was a horrible crime. She lets out another screech and runs after him arms in the air.

Yumi laughs softly, "I'll get one of those muggle camera's and get it all on tape." She grins over to Ian. "When Maddie gets to you, oh that'll be entertaining." She nods with a grin. As hears his next words Yumi shrugs also. "I don't want her to. Things were so much easier when she was Emily's age and younger."

Yumi laughed then shook her head slightly, "I wasn't going to say that but since you did, Poppy is still derranged, then huh." She nods with a grin. "Love her all the same though. She's starting influencing Emily."

[/blockquote]

[Ian Hunt]

It strikes me more when Fabian is smiling just how much he looks like Sirius. I wish that I'd had a chance to reconcile with him before he got locked away, although it's far too late now.
I was half tempted to go to Azkaban, to see him and try and make things right. But Azkaban is perhaps the one thing that I'm truly terrified of and I won't go anywhere near.
Logan's in there now, starting his long lifetime rot and I should be in the cell next door. I should have at least gone to see him to figure out why it even bothers me that he's met the fate that he deserves.
If I wasn't such a coward I would have gone.

"Poor kid," I murmur, nodding at where Matthew has doubled back round to try and escape Emily.
Alex is still on the floor and if I'm not mistaken he's twitching dramatically, although it's hard to tell.
Daniel is watching Emily run away bemusedly, probably trying to figure out if he's won or not.

"Oh God, please spare me," I laugh slightly, "Seriously, I'm just hoping they hold back. My step-mother, my sister, my girlfriend...how much harm can they actually do without feeling guilty?" Then I grin and shake my head, "Actually, don't answer that."

"It'll get easier again," I nod, with a sympathetic grimace, "When she's stopped being hormonal."
"Completely off her rocker, still talking to herself and other people who aren't there, still making us save the chair next to her at meal times for her 'secret friend', and she's started wearing her socks on her hands," I nod as if this is all completely normal behaviour in a thirteen year old girl, "Oh, and she's rediscovered the joys of throwing ink and dirt and anything she can get her hands on at walls."

[Yumi Hart]

"Fabian is trying to get us to call him Brad," Yumi comments as she sees Ian looking over at Fabian. Lately Fabian has been fairly unhappy with his name, but mostly his nickname. Says that it's to girly, or to old for his likeing. Yumi has explained to him time upon time that his name is his name but he still refuses to understand that concept. Yumi had brought it up last time she ad Fabian ahd gone to see Sirius and Sirius had told Fabian that he was named after a great man, but that was pretty much it before he went back into the silent state. Finally he had come to the solution that everyone would call him the shortened version of his middle name. Just didn't sound right.

As Matthew keeps running, Mia has quickly lost interest in the chase and stops. she turns slowly back towards Alex and Daniel. Yumi notices that Alex is..Well it looks like he's twitching, which should worry Yumi more than it does. But the look Emily is giving Daniel worrys Yumi more. It's between an evil grin, and the look of the possesed. Mia starts after Daniel, screeching with her arms in the air as she runs as quick as she can torwards him. "None of them had a chance," She comments to Ian.

"Oh and to think I had a whole list already popping in my head," Yumi laughs with Ian. "And that was a list for each of them. For both your girlfriend, your step-mother, and your sister." She adds just to tease him.

Yumi laughs nodding her head as he describes Poppy. "Ah," Is all she can think of to say to all that. "That girl makes me wonder," Yumi laughs softly shaking her head. Fabian walks back over with Abby still in his arms. He raises his eyebrow over at Yumi after one glance at Emily, "I don't know either." She says to Fay as he sits on the ground in front of Yumi.

[/blockquote]

[Ian Hunt]

At least your son will talk to you, Is pretty much the first response that comes to mind at that.
I have three daughters, and all of them talk to me. My nephew and my little brother will talk to me. I just wish that my son would, I wish I hadn't really fucked it all up and that he would just say one word to me.
"Going to let him get away with it?" I ask.

"Run!" I think all three of them yell it pretty much the same time and all scatter in different directions.
I suppose it could be construed as tactical if they're splitting up so at least two of them can be saved, but I think they're all just cowards.
It seems more likely.
"No," I agree, "They could all do with their ego's being knocked down though, being beaten by a girl might just do that. You know Daniel's already trying to pick up girls?"

I laugh, "Now I'm semi-intrigued, but I really don't think that I want to know."
"Really? She makes me want to bang my head against a wall repeatedly until I don't care anymore," I reply wryly, then glance down at Fabian with a shrug, "It's best not to ask, I suppose."

[Yumi Hart]

Yumi shrugs and taps her foot against Fabians back. "Should I call you Brad, Fay?" Yumi asks just to get on his nerves. It seems that whenver Yumi mentions it in public that he gets embarrased about it. Yumi can see a glare beneath the hair and the frown obvious on his face. As Yumi caught sight of the scars going down his cheek Yumi can't help but think that they help with the evil look. Yumi chuckled softly, "I love you Fabian." She says to her son as he turns his back to her again and going back to entertain Abby.

Emily continues chaseing Daniel until she is in range of him. Almost instantly she throws herself over to him, triyng to tackel him from behind. It didn't go as planned though, seeing as all she does it attach herself to his back arms around his neck. She wraped her legs around him so not to fall. Yumi looked voer at Ian and laughed softly. "How old is he again?" She asked with an amused grin.

"Oh, you don't want to know." Yumi laughed.
Yumi laughed softly, "Whatever floats your boat guess," She says. Fabian glances back at Ian and shrugs slightly. "I'm used to it by now I guess.." He mumbles.

[/blockquote]

[Ian Hunt]

"Bullying your poor son, Yumi," I raise an eyebrow, murmuring it under my breath so as not to risk embarrassing him further.

Daniel hitches Emily legs around his waist, holding her on his back and yelling triumphantly, "I've got her!"
The other two start cheering immediately, backing up their hasty retreats to take a share in the glory.
Yeah, definitely cowards.
"He's just turned nine," I laugh slightly, "What's worse is that he's succeeding in picking up girls."

"Now I want to know. Reverse psychology," I laugh softly.
"I guess you'd have to be," I reply to Fabian, frowning just a little at his tone, before glancing at Yumi and raising an eyebrow as if to say 'Does he always speak like that?'

[Yumi Hart]

"I'm horrible, I know." Yumi says just as soft to Ian. Yumi never meant anything by it when she teased Fabian, or Emily, or Mia. She's told them that on many occasions. Mia honestly didn't care most of the time and Yumi never really joked around like that with Emily yet. Yumi can remember her sister saying something along the sma elines that Ian had just said, and had also added that Yumi is sometimes triyng to be more of a friend than a mother to her children. "I'm working on it," She adds.

"I've seen this one before." Yumi says as the two boys start to make their way back. "She makes them have a false sense of security and then she'll get all three of them." Yumi says looking over at Ian.
Yumi laughs softly, "Oh dear, I can only imagine when he gets older.
She laughs softly and shakes her head, "No, you don't want to know."
Yumi looks over at Ian with a frown also then nods her head. Yumi leans over and whispers in Ian's ear softly, "Only after visits to Sirius." Yumi had been cutting back on the visits to Sirius, now only once about two or three months, but Yumi still wanted to see him more. The only reason she was cutting back was because of the effects it had on Fabian, and she hated seeing him like this.

[/blockquote]

[Ian Hunt]

"Completely foul," I agree seriously, although I don't mean it obviously.
I'm hardly one to talk about bullying my children, or the gaggle of children I tend to be around most of the time. Just sort of slips out most of the time, I suppose I'm lucky none of them really get sarcasm all that well.

"Clever," I nod, watching Daniel spin round in circles with Emily on his back. Someone's going to end up getting hurt, I reckon. Definitely.
"I don't want to imagine him when he's older," I laugh slightly, shaking my head.
I nod after that, feeling sort of cold in the wake of her words, before finally murmuring very quietly under my breath so Fabian definitely can't hear, "How is Si-...he?"

[Yumi Hart]

"The devil himself is applauding me," Yumi nods, knowing that Ian was joking.
"Give it a few moments. She'll pounce." Yumi nods. Just as she says this Emily wriggles herself free from Daniels grip and instantly starts towards Matthew, tackeling him with all her might. "He was the only one she's hasn't gotten yet." Yumi nods, now worried about what Emily will do next.
Nothing good, is safe to assume.

Yumi looks down for a few moments then shakes her head. "Not good..." She mummers. "He barely speaks and always stays in the corner and-..." Yumi stops, chokeing on her words. She always seemed to get so much sadder and depressed with the subject of Sirius arose. Sirius wasn't the same, which was to be expected of being in that prison. "And he just makes it worse since we never fixed-..What happened." She added. The two of them never got back on good terms, seeing as he never came around durring Fabian young years and Yumi had been more than angry with him.

[/blockquote]

[Ian Hunt]

"Oh dear God."
I'm sure Matthew will be in Mungo's this evening. Claire is a hypochondriac, it seems, and the second he has a bruise she's paranoid and it'll take a lot to talk her out of seeking professional medical advice.
I'm going to be in a lot of trouble.
Alex and Daniel seem to find his pain amusing though, and sort of mill around laughing at him. I'd have thought they might have figured out that this probably isn't a sensible move.

I nod mutely in reponse to what she's said, focusing on picking idly at a loose thread because that's much easier to focus on than the subject matter at hand.
"I'm sorry for asking. You don't have to say anything, if you don't want," I shrug slightly.

[Yumi Hart]

Yumi winces slightly, "That poor child.." She mummers. "Is this considered normal?" Yumi questioned looking over at Ian. Yumi then looks back at Emily and watches her lose interesting in Matthew and practically slither on the ground over towards the two boys and use both hands to grab onto one of their feet and pull them.

Yumi shook her head. "It's fine." She mutters. "It's fine, you didn't know."
She sat there for a few more moments then looked back. "Going to be weird next year with Emily going to Hogwarts and it just being me for the whole year." She comments triyng to change the subject.

[/blockquote]

[Ian Hunt]

"Yes, it's pretty normal," I nod.
They've taken a group dive out of the upstairs hall window of my sister's house before, tried to surf down the stairs of Kris and Mez's appartment, and all enjoy taking a flying leap into the tree outside the window at home, and if none of that is going to stop them from being generally wreckless and violent, then I suppose it's just normal.

I fold my arms across my chest, drumming my fingers awkwardly on my forearm so I have something to do with my hands or I'll go insane.
"Yeah, that'll be weird. Hey, you can have Abby if you want," I shrug slightly with a small grin, "Alex and Violet are both starting in September as well."
I'm praying for any house but Slytherin this time around.

[Yumi Hart]

Fabian turns his head and raises an eyebrow at Ian. "You're syaing that is normal?" He questioned. By this time Emily is standing up running around all three boys shouting out incoherant words as if a victory run.

Yumi grins, "I'll that that little girl in a heartbeat." She chuckled softly looking down at Abby over Fabians shoulder. "Haven't seen Violet in a while," Yumi comments.
She sits there for a few more moments, "Emily keeps asking me what house she'll be in, and I have no idea. You?"

[/blockquote]

[Ian Hunt]

I watch the boys shove each other in their haste to get away from Emily, before looking back at Fabian and nodding, "They're being very well behaved compared to normal, actually."

"I'm not sure Maddie would approve if I gave her away," I laugh slightly, "Sorry."
"Emily will definitely be a lion or a badger. Lion, I think," I grin slightly, shaking my head, "Alex is a given for a lion. Vi is dubious, could go either of four ways. Damn unpredictable children."

[Yumi Hart]

"I feel sorry for you," Fabian muttered turning his attention back to Abby.
Emily grinned watching them then walking back and ploping down on the bench, making herself squeeze between Yumi and Ian. She grinned up at the both of them, then looked back at the boys. Yumi looked over at Ian and chuckled under her breath and raised an eyebrow as if asking, 'Should I say something to her?'.

Yumi laughed softly, "Go and get my hopes then will you Ian." She said shaking her head. "That's very rude." Yumi added with a small smile.
Yumi grinned and nodded her head in agreement, then laughed. "Yes how dare your children with them and their unpredictableness."

[/blockquote]

[Ian Hunt]

"I get by," I shrug.
It's not like I do anything else with my life anyway. Trying to babysit - emphasis on trying - is a full-time occupation, so I'm sort of used to it by now.
I grin at Yumi as Emily sits down, shaking my head slightly with a small shrug at the same time to show that it really doesn't matter.
"Look at the chaos you've caused, Emily," I grin slightly and nod at the boys who are now looking thoroughly confused about having their game interrupted, being beaten up, and then having their nemesis leave again, "Nicely done."

"Terribly sorry," I reply with a laugh, "I just like to crush people's hope. It's a bad habit, I'm trying to kick it."
I laugh, nodding, "Precisely. They should let us just figure them out and be done with it."