Adventures in Babysitting

[pugsmuggler]

It was uncharacteristically early when Garamond decided to stop by Calibri’s lab. The installment was still relatively new to the first circle’s queen ship. The counters were still glossy-tiled and free of chemical burns, the utensils all shiny and unused, and while it accommodated for plenty more than just Calibri’s research, no one really had the nerve to go in there with it being consistently occupied by the circle’s finest poisons expert — No one except for Garamond. From Garamond’s perspective, Calibri had acclimated himself to life on the ship quite well, and handled his responsibilities aptly. This particular morning, however, Garamond had decided to hand Calibri a responsibility that extended slightly beyond what Calibri had signed on for.

Ten-year-old son at his side, Garamond let himself through the laboratory doors and into the. He found Calibri, after a brief trip around the countertops, curled up asleep underneath a desk. Calibri was equipped with a stylus and notebook in hand as if he had fallen asleep scrawling notes. Garamond, not visibly surprised by the scenario, crouched down to Calibri’s level, perching himself on the toes of his loafers.

“Ah, there you are,” Garamond announced himself. “I had a favor to ask.”

Comments

[tactician]

Calibri looked at Danny as if the answer was obvious. "Because I'm working."

[kobacake]

"Why would you choose work over having a girlfriend?" Danny looked at Calibri like he was crazy.

[tactician]

They continued to stare at each other over their breakfasts.

"Why would you choose a companion over a means to sustain yourself?"

[kobacake]

"If you have love you don't need anything else!" Either Danny was the least materialistic 10-year-old in the world, or he was quoting something he'd heard on TV. Obviously it was the latter. He'd probably be quite upset if someone took his things.

[tactician]

Calibri looked mortally offended.

"That is the most incorrect statement I have ever heard."

[kobacake]

Danny rolled his eyes, turning back to his last few bites of pancakes. "You're so dumb!"

[tactician]

"Excuse me?"

uh oh you've done it now danny

[kobacake]

Placing the last bite of his breakfast into his mouth, he set down his fork and pushed the tray away. He narrowed an eye like he wasn't sure why Calibri didn't understand and repeated, "You're dumb."

hey koba do you want to see gen2 lockweiler

[tactician]

"And against what standard are you basing that?" Calibri said, stirring his spoon around his oatmeal without really eating from it. Considering he fastidiously avoided idle or nervous habits with a vengeance (it was just a waste of energy), it was as clear an indication as any as to how he felt about Danny's sudden declaration.

SCREAMS WAS THAT A REAL QUESTION SHOW ME

[kobacake]

"Cause you dont like girls and you like weird stuff." Danny said as if the answer was obvious.

[tactician]

Calibri looked at Danny as if it were anything but.

"The gauge of one's interest in the female race is not a test of intelligence. Neither is the measure one's interest in unconventional fields like poisons," he sniffed, poking around his eggs with a fork now. They were done easy-over, so the semi-raw yolk still had a chance of developing Enterobacteriaceae bacteria, he noted. "There are plenty of people who are experts in their field who, presumably, have no interests in poisons, and have no interests in women."

calibri is this a sensitive issue for you

[kobacake]

Danny just stared at Calibri during his explanation, placing his chin in his hands. "I... guess? But don't you wanna be a dad someday?"

[tactician]

Calibri glanced pointedly at Danny.

After a moment, he turned back to his food. The yolks were making a bloody mess all over his plate now and, despite what a fastidiously tidy person he tended to be, Calibri seemed to take no mind in smearing around the carnage with the egg whites. "Right now, my career is more important than the proliferation of my genetic brand for evolutionary purposes."

[kobacake]

"I'm gonna be an awesome dad someday." Danny straightened up again, tilting his chin up with a hint of pride. "Just like Boss. He's the best."

[tactician]

Behind his fork, Calibri's mouth quirked into a barely-there smile, even as he kept his eyes on his finely and evenly diced scrambled eggs. "He is a good father," he agreed quietly, sounding almost fond. Calibri lifted his eyes to Danny. "You would do well in emulating him."

Of course, he had to ruin that a moment later with a thoughtful tilt of his head. "But I estimate you have at least two years before you are even physically capable of producing offspring."

[kobacake]

Danny nodded towards Calibri as he agreed. Boss was so great, even weird people like Calibri could understand. Suddenly he went wide-eyed and pointed at Calibri's face, looking almost alarmed. "WHOA! You smiled!!"

[tactician]

Consequently, Calibri frowned. "Is there something wrong with that?"

[kobacake]

"I've never seen you smile before." This wasn't completely true. He'd seen Calibri smile plenty of times, but those smiles were normally accompanied by gleaming glasses lenses and eerie laughter and a menacing aura. This was the first time he'd seen a happy, normal person smile on Calibri's face, no matter how small it'd been. "It almost made you look not evil."

[tactician]

His eyes narrowed - not threateningly, but curiously (although Danny would probably read it as the former just the same).

"Evil? What is your moral compass, for the son of a crime lord, I wonder."

[kobacake]

Danny just looked confused. "What's a mortal compass?"

[tactician]

"Moral compass. It's how you tell what's morally acceptable. Basically...what you would term as 'good' or 'evil'." He sniffed, putting down his fork in favor of his very tall glass of milk. Was Garamond trying to say something with all this calcium?

"It's a very homo sapien construct," Calibri added as an afterthought. "It seems very arbitrary for you."

[kobacake]

"Nice things are good and scary things are evil!" Danny said as if this was the obvious answer. As an afterthought, he added. "You use too many hard words.."

[tactician]

Even Calibri realized that getting into an argument about classifications of good, evil, scary and nice was a waste of effort on both their parts. He opted, instead, for finishing the rest of his breakfast instead, making short work of the remaining portions now that he wasn't preoccupied with explaining to a small child the constructs of moral alliances. When he finished, he set all the cutlery and glasses down as neatly as they had come, covering all the empty dishes again on the tray.

As he did so, he said, "Regardless of whether or not you find me 'scary,' it's my responsibility today to see that no real harm befalls you while you're under my care."

The consequences that followed should he fail to do so were something Calibri considered 'scary.'

He looked down at Danny. "As long as you're with me, you're safe."

[kobacake]

Danny stared up at Calibri, seeming to mull the other's words over in his head. In that moment, Danny found Calibri almost trustworthy. (That was certainly a change from an hour ago when he was screaming and crying on the floor out of fear...) "Really?"

His mouth flattened out into a line and his face took on a deadly serious tone. Suddenly, he thrust a small hand in Calibri's direction, pinky finger extended. "It's a promise, then, right?!"

[tactician]

Calibri stared at the finger. What was this?

"Is something wrong with your finger?"