dc_adult (dc_adult) wrote in dc_nextgen,
@ 2011-04-23 15:34:00

Um... Hi.
He'd been suspicious the moment Rosie'd said GK'd called her up and 'given permission' for Jed to come and check on him in Star City. Of course Rosie'd asked him to.

At "So, how about lunch with my buddy Zoe and her Mom? Better than hanging around in my apartment. It being in a basement and all," Jed was pretty sure he knew what was going on. He wondered if Mom and Rosie'd offered to raise the kid's allowance or something.

At "Ms. Torres, this is my Uncle Jed. Uncle Jed, Zoe and I are going to go ahead and get some shopping done. See you soon," Jed.... considered suggesting Mom and Rosie raise the kid's allowance.

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	dc_parent 2011-04-23 09:44 pm UTC (link)
	Michelle sighed as the two kids left quickly and offered Jed a rueful smile. "Mr. Walker, I do believe we've been set up." (Reply to this)(Thread)

	dc_adult 2011-04-23 10:04 pm UTC (link)
	"Sure looks like it," Jed says sheepishly. Unlike his nephew, he has just a touch of Southern drawl in his accent. "I'm sure they think it's very clever." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dc_parent 2011-04-23 10:06 pm UTC (link)
	"The problem is, they /are/ very clever." Michelle smiled, shook her head and turned her attention to Jed. "I was told GK's mother was worried about him living alone in Star City." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dc_adult 2011-04-23 10:09 pm UTC (link)
	"Oh, Rosie'll worry about anything. especially with Star City getting a lot more Weird Stuff than Seattle. But she did not insist on a vetting of his friend's family,no." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dc_parent 2011-04-23 10:21 pm UTC (link)
	"Not vetting, only making sure he wasn't alone. As a mother myself, I would worry if Zoe was alone in a strange city. I'd want to know if she'd made a friend and was settling in." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dc_adult 2011-04-23 10:25 pm UTC (link)
	"She'll be happy to have confirmed that he's got people, yeah. This whole graduating-early-and-going-to-Star-City thing was pretty important to him, so she didn't try to talk him out of it." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dc_parent 2011-04-23 10:35 pm UTC (link)
	"He's a very nice young man and Zoe seems to have taken to him very well." Michelle gasped her hands on the table in front of her. "She's not an easy person when it comes to making friends, but I knew that she thought a lot of him when he made suggestions about her clothes and she didn't toss him out a window." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dc_adult 2011-04-23 10:43 pm UTC (link)
	"Ah, yes, well, he's that kind of kid. I remember when he was eight years old and explaining. 'Uncle Jed, thank you very much for the sweater, but I can't wear burgundy. I'm a spring.'" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

dc_parent
2011-04-23 10:49 pm UTC (link)

She laughed. The story was even cuter delivered in Jed Walker's accent. She found it charming, and suspected that she was supposed to be very charmed by it.

"They made it home right after the zombie problem we had, and if I hadn't known better I'd have thought they were in the middle of it of all. I was worried about Zoe and he quite cheerfully told me that he understood completely that black was not her color. Please tell his mother that he's been an absolute delight at our dinner table."

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	dc_adult 2011-04-23 10:56 pm UTC (link)
	"I'll be very happy to relay that. Gotta admit, we were really glad to hear he wasn't huddling in his apartment all alone for that mess." Because huddling in the basement alone was never good. Only worse thing was huddling in the basement with... bad train of thought, Jed. You're having lunch with a very lovely woman. "So Zoey's not much of a stylehound, huh?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dc_parent 2011-04-23 11:08 pm UTC (link)
	"Not much, no." Not on what she'd earned while Zoe was growing up. "She's developed her own style over the years. GK said you were a photographer and that you and his mother travel quite a bit." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dc_adult 2011-04-23 11:12 pm UTC (link)
	"Yeah. We're about to head to Europe to get the notes and the shots for her next book. What about you? I'm sorry, I don't think he mentioned." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dc_parent 2011-04-23 11:18 pm UTC (link)
	"I'm an attorney. I have an office in the Triangle." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dc_adult 2011-04-23 11:22 pm UTC (link)
	"Intersting." Jed politely refrained from mentioning that GK had apparently ignored all advice to stick to the well known 'safe' neighborhoods of th city. "That's... definitely one thing GK's clueless about." Rosie'd tried to make sure of that over the years. "What's your specialization?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

dc_parent
2011-04-23 11:33 pm UTC (link)

"Civil law. I kept my practice in the Triangle to help the residents because they often don't have the access or the funds to take advantage of the legal system. I was forced to live in the Triangle when I had Zoe, and the people I met and grew close to helped me make the decision to stay and give back to the community. We're working hard to return it to a safe place. It's a struggle, but it's worth it."

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	dc_adult 2011-04-23 11:38 pm UTC (link)
	He listens carefully, nods earnestly. "That's great. Giving back's important," he says with utter sincerity. Then he pauses. "Weird questino, but are there any community issues that seriously need airing in Sacramento? I've got some business at the legislature day after tomorrow, and could maybe mention in a few things outside my usual spiel." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

dc_parent
2011-04-23 11:51 pm UTC (link)

It was an odd question for a lunch, but Michelle wasn't going to pass up the opportunity.

"We need more funding for youth programs, but what city doesn't?" She smiled and leaned forward. "We have a youth center but it's lacking in supervision. What good is it to have a place for the kids to hang out if there's nothing for them to do. We were lucky to get corporate backing for the center, but I want to see funding for staff. And perhaps for the police to make more patrols inside the Triangle instead of skimming the edges."

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	dc_adult 2011-04-23 11:54 pm UTC (link)
	Another earnest nod. "Supervision and accountability in any public project dealing with kids is always worth nagging about." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dc_parent 2011-04-23 11:58 pm UTC (link)
	"There are a lot of good people who have nowhere else to go and they have children that deserve the chance to make something of themselves." She gave him a smile. "Don't get me started. I could talk about it all afternoon." She reached for her water glass. "Europe sounds exciting. I've never been further than Star City." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dc_adult 2011-04-24 12:22 am UTC (link)
	"It's nice. Had a really interesting time getting good shots of old World War I battlefields for one of Rose's books. And I've gotten some great wildlife shots in the Black Forest in Germany. I liked New Zealand even better, though. I think Rosie wants Switzerland this time." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dc_parent 2011-04-24 12:36 am UTC (link)
	Michelle was genuinely interested. Travel was something she'd always wanted to do, but she didn't regret the choices she'd made. "That sounds wonderful. Do you spend most of the year traveling?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

dc_adult
2011-04-24 12:51 am UTC (link)

"Depends on the year. When I was fresh out of high school and she was pregnant with GK, she had this idea -- that's Rose. one day she's depressed and bothered by morning sickness, the next day we have to document all the famous cases of a bizarre epidemic in 1920 -- and we ended up doing research and pictures in Jamaica, Canada, and France all during the second trimester. We took GK all around the UK a lot as toddler. Once he started school, though, we tried to cut down during the school year for a while, give him a more stable environment."

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	dc_parent 2011-04-24 01:09 am UTC (link)
	She marveled at the casual way he spoke of spending so much time out of the country. "So you began your photography career right out of high school? Most people don't know what they want to do at that age." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dc_adult 2011-04-24 01:12 am UTC (link)
	He nods, smile sheepish again. "I got my first camera for my thirteenth birthday, and I was hooked. Once I was old enough, it seemed the thing to do forever. When did you decide to go into law?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zoe_torres 2011-06-06 03:22 pm UTC (link)
	(END) (Reply to this)