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[h_hollister]

Enter one fed-up crazy woman.

"So. Single mum. Used to it. Raising two boys, all has been well for the last twelve years."

She pulls a pack of Rothmans out of the back pocket of her jeans and lights up, a true sign that she's at her wits' end. She never smokes in public. Like....less so than she drinks in public, which is saying a hell of a lot.

"Except now puberty is hitting. Suddenly I'm getting hormones along with the sass. Suddenly my sweet little boys are turning into aggressive little men. Should I douse myself in testosterone to establish dominance? Or should I find a better outlet for my little hellions?"

This marks the first real question Hippolyta Hollister has asked in many, many years. Pay heed.

Comments

[slayers_desire]

This question interests April. Mostly because it won't be long before her own 'little boys' are turning into men.

"What are their interests? What kind of outlet would they enjoy?"

[h_hollister]

"Oh, lord."

She chuckles to herself, and shrugs a little.

"Video games? Pokemon? Math homework involving decimal points? Books by Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett? Animorphs? I really don't know, I'm out of some significant loops, to be honest."

[slayers_desire]

"That must be difficult."

April has it lucky. Her children can't hide anything from her. And she has Clark there, when it is time for the two-parent tactic.

"Tell me about your boys."

[h_hollister]

"Heh."

She ponders that, with a small smile on her face. The smile of a mother who's not sure which is braggadocio and what's normal. Blame the Nexus.

"Sammy is like me. Outgoing and sassy and a consummate bullshitter. He'd charm your socks off before you even realized he'd gotten there. Frankie...he's shy. He's the kind of boy who can't help himself. If I've got the trope down, he's a cross between Moe and Tsundre."

[slayers_desire]

"Sammy sounds like the kind of young man who would enjoy new experiences. And meeting new people."

"And Frankie sounds like Wil, my third-born child." April doesn't understand the trope reference. "Wil likes his alone time. The space to do what he wants to do, without being monitored."

April tilts her head. "Have you told them about the Nexus?"

[gorogorogoro_chan]

The smell of nicotine wafting through the air lures another smoker. Majima already has his own cigarette lit and in hand. "Speakin' as a former shitty teenage boy, whatever ya do to keep 'em in line, ya gotta make 'em think it's their idea. Hit that age, and they start thinkin' they're grown-ass men already. Masters of their own fate."

[h_hollister]

"Ugh. I never was good at the whole reverse psychology thing. I'm much more of a 'direct approach' sort of gal. Can I touch you for one?"

Hips jerks her chin at the cigarette in Majima's hand. She never ever ever smokes at home, after all. She really shouldn't be smoking here, either. And yet.

[gorogorogoro_chan]

Majima wordlessly obliges her request, flipping open his pack. "I mean, ya don't gotta do mind games per se. Maybe just let 'em fuck up a few times. Learn a few hard lessons from their own stupidity."

[h_hollister]

"I'd be okay with that....except that I'm not okay with letting my sons make stupid mistakes."

She takes the cigarette, lights it with a smooth gesture.

"They're better than that. I really need to believe they're better than that."

[gorogorogoro_chan]

"The mistakes ya learn first hand are the ones that really make you get your shit together. 'specially when you gotta cut through that cloud of puberty hormones."

He sighs out a puff of cigarette smoke. "But I ain't a parent. That whole 'not wantin' yer kids gettin' hurt' thing is pretty powerful, huh? Guess you got no choice but to put the fear of god in 'em yerself."

[ixis]

"If the brats refuse to respect authority, evict them! Why put up with rebellion in your own home? A few nights on the streets should straighten out any ideas of continued disrespect. Also, you get some peace and quiet for awhile. A sound plan in many ways, if you ask me, and you did."

You can tell Ixis Naugus has never actually raised any children with an answer like that.

[h_hollister]

"Yeeeees," she drawls, rolling her eyes at the imp. "Excellent idea. That wouldn't backfire on me or them at all. I'm absolutely certain that Child Protective Services will be keen to accept that I took that advice from you."

[ixis]

"As well they should; my advice is beyond valuable. I'm sure they would learn valuable lessons in their time outside the house. Foraging, self-defense, outdoor sleeping arrangements. A little self-sufficiency never hurt anyone! Children are overall coddled to begin with."

[h_hollister]

"You are the worst, Burr."

She makes a little 'jack-off' motion with her right hand, dismissing him as crudely as possible. That's Hips for ya!

[chiron_survivor]

"Um... my aunt put my cousins in sports. She said that way they'd sweat out their hormones."

Adia is looking leaps and bounds better than she did at her drunken pity party all those months ago, but she's still a little intimidated by the other woman's beauty. She smiles shyly and stays out of smoke-blowing range.

"How do they like to express themselves? Art, journaling, anything like that?"

[h_hollister]

Don't be intimidated by Hips' beauty. Be intimidated by her ridiculous mouth and easy willingness to verbally assault people.

She's very careful to not blow smoke at people though. She's terrible, but she's not rude. ...Well, okay, she is, but only if the other person deserves it.

"Well, Sammy has taken to crawling all over the castle like he's Sir Edmund Hillary. He calls it parkour. I call it an incipient heart attack. He's keen on video games, much to my chagrin. His father would be having fits, to be honest."

She puts on a ridiculous Spanish accent and waves a hand in the air.

"The 9th castellan of the Salazar line, playing Pokemon!" She drops the accent. "Yeah. Anyway. Frankie has his nose in a book at all hours, I have to pry it out of his hands come supper time. And if I could understand the books, I'd be better with it, but they all have ridiculous titles with many multi-syllable words. Hyphenated words. It's Martian for all of me."

[chiron_survivor]

Oh, no, she hasn't forgotten that, either. But this woman took the time to offer her advice, she's willing to tamp down her social anxiety and return the favor.

"Frankie sounds a lot like how I was. My mom wouldn't let me have a flashlight in my room because I'd stay up all night reading. Just asking him about what he's reading is enough, really. He might want a chance to write his own stories, too." She frowns thoughtfully. "Can Sammy take a parkour class? It sounds like he wants to get out more, even with the video games."

[h_hollister]

"Not...exactly. It's a long story. Let's just say we're in an incredibly rural situation, even with PINpoints, and leave it at that."

The thought of having that, of the suburban mom life and shuttling her kids around to activities, is so far out of her realm of possibilities as to be laughable.

[sumarusfinest]

"Ugh. I wish there was a simple solution to that."

Katsuya remembers all too well the near daily fights he and his younger brother got into when Tatsuya was going through that. The elder Suou was barely out of it himself at the time and really, trying to raise a teenager alone at any age is just a nightmare.

"The harder I tried to set structure and rules the more Tatsuya rebelled. I feel I failed him on more than one occasion. I don't think being strict can reign them in, at least from my experience. Is there a club or something they could join? Something that might engage them in a more constructive way?"

[h_hollister]

"Ah. The problem with that is....well, here."

She pulls out her phone, and pulls up a picture of her little hellions. Sammy is like a centaur, only instead of a horse's rear, he's built like a spider, with six crab-like legs. (He also looks exactly like his mother, nose and all, it's a little uncanny.) He's center of the frame, beaming like only a 12 year old boy up to mischief can, standing proudly in the center of his father's drawing room. Frankie is behind him, curled up on an ornate sofa. He's very green. And he's half hidden behind a book that's about double his size.

"They're not exactly...able to be out and about. At least not without drawing exactly the wrong sort of attention."

[sumarusfinest]

That's right. They are Ramon Salazar's children after all. Katsuya's never met Hippolyta's children in person and now he's well aware why. He can only imagine the sort of reaction she might have gotten from her friends--himself included--before they were properly used to the Nexus and the wide variety of life that exists beyond one world's borders. He doesn't flinch away or make a face at her children, but he does raise his eyebrow at her when she pulls away from his side with her phone in hand.

"Perhaps not on your Earth. But here in the Nexus they would not turn heads. I'm sure there's some kind of class or club they could join here. Maybe even a sports club once the weather turns better. I know I've seen a shooting range and a gym in my walks around the Nexus."

[h_hollister]

She frowns, and sighs quietly.

"....I'm still reluctant to let them wander about willy-nilly here," she confesses. "I wish I could find them a world to wander about on. What if they stumble into a LOL here? How could I help them? I don't..."

She trails off, and sighs.

"They're still kids, Katsuya."

[auspex_caelo]

"I think that's usually the time when one starts giving them a measure of added responsibility." Stratos doesn't get all the foreign terminology, but he can infer the gist of the question at hand. It's probably not remotely surprising that the man in medieval-Roman steel armor is going to start talking about duty here. "Most of the children I grew up with began preparing for apprenticeships at that age. Rules and discipline are important, but I think a sense of purpose is equally necessary."

[h_hollister]

She sighs, and nods a little morosely. Well, she did come for advice. Even if she doesn't much care for the general thrust of the answers given. Which basically add up to 'stop babying your teenagers, woman.'

"Well, Frankie's set. He's happiest when he's doing equations or talking about the binding property of electrons. He's always known. Sammy's....trickier."

[auspex_caelo]

It's a day that has to come, though knowing it's ahead doesn't mean it's easier to face up to. Someday, if he's lucky, Stratos will learn that for himself.

"Ah. That sounds remarkably familiar." He smiles, though one of those names carries associations that make him hesitate just a second. "Sammy... is the younger, I take it?"