"Dad"!
A tiny voice called him from the room with the fleur-de-lys on it. Shin looked up from his book and faced the room door, wondering if he had really been called or if that had just been a voice in his head.
"Dad"! the voice called him again, this time a little louder. "Dad"!
Coming, sweetheart he called back telepathically, pushing the door open gently and going inside the room.
Lalia's room was fairly on the purple side, as in most of the room had purple in it. Purple walls, floor, bed, wardrobe, floormat and occasionally some of her toys as well. Lalia herself was currently on the little pom-pom carpet her doting grandmother had sewed for her out of violet, lavender, pale purple, eggplant and amethyst pom-poms years ago, playing with three of the twelve plushies she currently owned; a plushie jet, a plushie spider and a plushie Xandrias.
Yeah, no prizes for guessing there. Her late mother was pretty much unbiased about plushie shapes, and also had a strange taste for them.
"Dad"! she mewed, looking up at him at that point.
Hey sweetheart Shin signed, sitting down on the carpet with Lalia and lifting her into his lap. What are you doing?
"Consultin' my plushies", she mused, hands clutched tightly around the jet plushie.
Consulting them? Shin repeated, raising an eyebrow. What are you guys discussing?
"About who's gonna have 'em after I sell 'em off", she responded in a tone that even for a four-year-old still nailed the seriousness.
Why do you want to sell off your toys? Shin asked her, surprised.
"I heard you, grandma and grandpa talking yesterday, when I was about to go to bed", she explained, hugging her stuffed jet to her chest and rocking back and forth on his lap. "You said you haven't been able to find a job lately after you got fired from your first one, and so that got me thinking...See, there's a garage sale this Saturday, and I thought, 'if I can sell my plushies this Saturday, then I can probably get some money for dad'".
Shin was just speechless.
"Something like that", she added, still rocking back and forth.
No.
Shin's features contorted slightly, his chest heaving more than was normal at what he had just said.
"No"? Lalia repeated, now confused (and concerned) herself.
No, you don't have to sell your toys to help us Shin signed out, feeling a sort of pressure well up in his breastbone as he held his daughter in an embrace, like he was now unwilling to let her go anywhere.
"But grandma and grandpa said"- Lalia begin in an attempt to state her point before her father cut her off.
Lalia, I know what you heard, and I know what you're trying to do based on what you've gathered, but understand me when I say it isn't necessary Shin told her, his voice low and solemn.
"Why"? Lalia asked him, eyes widened with confusion. "I mean, I'm just trying to help".
Yes, you are, and I appreciate what you're trying to do Shin breathed, unable to hide the rising tension in his hand movements now. But please, that isn't necessary. I'll find a job. Don't worry, I will. Looking for one takes time
"I'll hold you to that", Lalia murmured, reaching up to hug her father. "Just take it easy, alright? Don't pick something you'll regret later".
I will see about the last bit when I come to it Shin told her as she slid off his lap and once more onto the pom-pom blanket on the floor. Until then, just...be good to your grandparents while I'm not around, alright?
YOU ARE READING
ADVENTURES OF THE STAR SQUAD (PILOT)
Fiksi PenggemarIchika Akimoto is a single mother trying to raise her daughter without her abusive ex-husband and his equally abusive parents interfering. Ultraman Shin is a single father trying to raise his own daughter while struggling to cope with the loss of hi...
