It had been below freezing for nearly a week, but that morning had dawned practically balmy. Serena, predictably, was ecstatic that she could play outside in nice weather, and of course their sizable backyard wasn’t good enough for the first truly nice day in—honestly, it was probably only two weeks at most, but Serena had a short memory for that sort of technicality.
Which meant Andrew brought her to one of the big parks after she got off school for the day and tried not to think about how much mud was splashing on her clothing every time she went down the slide into the thawing, recently slush covered ground. Andrew supposed the mud was why the park wasn’t as busy as it usually was on a surprise warm day in winter, with only a handful of other kids running around while being more or less supervised by miscellaneous adult relatives. Otherwise, it was pretty peaceful in the park.
Pip rustled sleepily in Andrew’s hoodie. While as a familiar she was technically a spirit and not a real bat, she still fell into the semblance of bats’ natural patterns when it suited her. Curling up in the warmth of Andrew’s clothing and napping when winter came suited her. She also had a bat’s uncanny knowledge of when sunset would be, and Andrew was about to ask her how much time they had to let Serena play before it got dark when he saw Serena dart off towards a man and a baby who were sitting on one of the springy animals.
“Fuck,” Andrew muttered, and hurriedly walked over to apologize for whatever Serena was already saying to them.
Which meant Andrew brought her to one of the big parks after she got off school for the day and tried not to think about how much mud was splashing on her clothing every time she went down the slide into the thawing, recently slush covered ground. Andrew supposed the mud was why the park wasn’t as busy as it usually was on a surprise warm day in winter, with only a handful of other kids running around while being more or less supervised by miscellaneous adult relatives. Otherwise, it was pretty peaceful in the park.
Pip rustled sleepily in Andrew’s hoodie. While as a familiar she was technically a spirit and not a real bat, she still fell into the semblance of bats’ natural patterns when it suited her. Curling up in the warmth of Andrew’s clothing and napping when winter came suited her. She also had a bat’s uncanny knowledge of when sunset would be, and Andrew was about to ask her how much time they had to let Serena play before it got dark when he saw Serena dart off towards a man and a baby who were sitting on one of the springy animals.
“Fuck,” Andrew muttered, and hurriedly walked over to apologize for whatever Serena was already saying to them.
