Saved this just for you. [Henry and Oz] on At Home

Monica Spellman

March 03, 2021 8:00 AM

Saved this just for you. [Henry and Oz] by Monica Spellman

Monica hadn't worked less with the boys gone, if anything she'd worked more. It had suddenly been less important to make sure she was home on time, make sure dinner (whatever it looked like that day) was provided, or that any sense of normalcy was included in their day-to-day lives. While her day-to-day life had been stripped of her favorite parts, her favorite parts had been given something new altogether. It was a rough thing for anyone to go through, but as a family it felt even rougher. Still, Monica had taken advantage of this change to pick up as many extra shifts as she could physically manage to do, often sleeping on the bus when she wouldn't have time for a full night's sleep at home. She tried not to overdo it and Henry especially liked to remind her to take care of herself, but it was easier to just think of taking care of them. They were the important things, and they were going to be home for the summer. Taking time off work was hard, but if you built up enough of a reputation at work, got enough days saved away, and managed your finances right, you could swing it sometimes. She couldn't take the whole summer, but she could do something. She had to do something, because she had to see her boys.

Summer had passed much as normal, except of course that nothing was normal. Henry and Oz took turns telling her about things she didn't understand at all (Henry usually providing more of an actual explanation where needed while Oz made sure she knew that it was every bit as dangerous and exciting as she worried it was) and she did everything she could to be there more often than she might've been able to other summers. She'd taken seasonal retail work for parts of the holiday season which meant she was one job down for now too, giving her more time than she'd gotten used to having. And today, she knew exactly how to spend it.

It wasn't strictly true that having the boys away was cheaper than having them at home, and it wasn't a trade she'd make if it had been a question of a different sort of schooling situation, but there were ways in which it certainly was. Between not paying for any bus fare, entertainment, or food for them, and the extra time she'd worked, Monica had saved up a sum that was going to allow them to do something they'd always wanted to do: an amusement park.

It was blistering hot of course, which was why the Arizona State Fair proper was actually held in October every year, but there were other events and shindigs available and Monica had done her research to find the one with the ride bands. And air conditioning. While the state fair always offered discounted admission tickets to free and reduced lunch students, letting them go occasionally over the course of the twins' lives, they'd never managed to get to an amusement park and certainly never had ride bands. Unlimited rides for the cost of a paper bracelet (which was a pretty steep cost), and Monica would be able to watch them have fun. She wasn't about to go on a roller coaster herself but that was fine by her; watching her boys enjoy themselves was the best part. Even Henry, she knew, could get behind this sort of adventure.

They woke up early and Monica got breakfast together - cereal from a box! - before catching a bus in the right direction. It was a direction that Monica had not explained except to say she had a surprise. That surprise happened to include roller coasters and batting cages and arcade games and Lazer tag. She was giddy with eagerness to see how exciting today was going to be and she kept up a constant stream of chat with Henry and Oz both even as they got off a few blocks from their destination. She couldn't quite tell if either of them guessed at what was happening but since neither of them had, to her knowledge, ever been here, she doubted they would.

"Are you ready?" she asked, taking each of their hands and grinning as she led around the block that would give them room to see the massive building and sprawling outdoor expansion that was Martian Land. Soon, she'd lead them the entry, where she'd get to say with pride that they had reserved tickets and then she'd purchase them ride bands. Then she'd watch them enjoy a very special day before they went away again. But first, she just wanted to see their faces. "So?" she prompted before getting her tone a little more excited. "Are you ready?"

OOC: Martian Land isn't a real place in Arizona as far as I know, but I based it loosely on parks like Castles 'n' Coasters and Enchanted Island Amusement Park, which are real places. And just general amusement park things.

22 Monica Spellman Saved this just for you. [Henry and Oz] 0 Monica Spellman 1 5

Oz Spellman

March 03, 2021 9:46 PM

Feelings are hard, screaming is awesome by Oz Spellman

Oz sat on the bus, beaming with excitement, bouncing in his seat, his stomach twisting itself into knots. They were going for a special day out, and it was a treat and a surprise, and he absolutely hated not knowing where he was going and what was about to happen. Still, he was doing his Pecari best to do what he had done all summer and just roll with the punches. He liked surprises, and in mom he trusted. It was just... not all her plans for summer had worked out.

The first time he had got a stomach ache on the day they were supposed to go swimming, it had been unfortunate. But he had suggested they could do a Henry-type activity instead, seeing as he didn't want them to do nothing with mom's day, and seeing as he felt more like being quiet. And that been good, and thoughtful, and he had comprised and solved, and of course he shouldn't feel bad because it wasn't his fault he felt unwell. The second time though, and unable to think of another good excuse, it had looked suspicious. Mom hadn't been mad at him still, but wanted to know why he didn't want to go swimming, and then they'd had an awkward talk where she told him it was okay if he didn't look like the action stars on TV, he was twelve and not meant to look like that, and was that the problem? He had nodded along, but still said he didn't want to go swimming, and nor had he lazed around the apartment with no t-shirt on the way he usually did during a hot summer.

So, he was determined not to ruin any more treats, especially not one that was a big one like this. They weren't going to the arcade, at least. That didn't need them to take the bus. The longer they stayed on the bus, the less likely it seemed that they would be going anywhere familiar. Maybe they were taking a bus out of town and just never going back... That would be a pretty great surprise. It probably wasn't that, but it was nice to think it.

He stared at his reflection in the window, finding a weird comfort in having a face that looked identical to his staring back. It was even better to let his eyes slide to the side a little and see Henry had a twin again, with their hair the way they had always both worn it before. Oz had come back from Sonora looking more like Henry, but his own hair was now back to his short spikes after an impromptu cut with the kitchen scissors one day when Mom had been working and Henry had been out (followed by a trip to the actual barber's because yes, Oz, it is very obvious you did it yourself.. At least it hadn't cost more to fix than if he'd just got a regular haircut in the first place, unlike some of his other mistakes, though he still wished mom hadn't had to).

The bus pulled up to the stop for Martian Land, and Oz still had no idea where they were going. He wasn't aware of anything else that was out this way. Maybe the park had a load of restaraunts around it or something. Like Cheesecake Factory. Except, he was pretty sure that there was a Cheesecake Factory closer by than this. Also, they always said they liked the cheesecake from the diner better. He was pretty sure they all knew that was a lie because cheesecake factory had like a billion flavours and the diner had like two, but if it was Cheesecake Factory, would it hurt mom's feelings more to know they hadn't really liked the cheesecake from the diner more all along, or if they acted like they still did and then it was like her surprise was less special?

Feelings were hard.

"Yeah!" he answered brightly. He was a Pecari. He was Oz. He was always ready for anything. He really hoped it wasn't Cheesecake Factory and lying though.

They walked around the corner, and he saw Martian Land, obviously, and he scanned all around it. There were a few restaraunts outside. They kept walking forward. So, something that was near the gate? But the more he scanned, the less he could see anything that they would have come all this way for. And then they were getting closer and closer, and he didn't get it, until they were walking right up to the counter and mom was saying they had 'reserved tickets' and were getting ride bands. Them! They were people with reserved tickets, and ride bands.

"No way!" he exclaimed. He watched, slightly terrified, as a high schooler in alien deely-boppers reached forward and wrapped the bright green strip around his wrist. It was almost definitely the most expensive thing he had ever owned (apart from school stuff but that had been bought with pretend money and been provided by the wizard government), and he was really glad they had sort of built the fact that you might be an idiot who looses things into the system and taken precautions against that.

He hugged his mom. He bounced. He hugged and bounced some more. He looked at the little green strip - it was going to let him into somewhere special, where not just anyone could go, and no one could take it away from him.

13 Oz Spellman Feelings are hard, screaming is awesome 1514 0 5

Henry Spellman

March 09, 2021 1:31 PM

I feel like screaming. by Henry Spellman

OOC: Henry's understanding of his mom's finances is probably not accurate. BIC:

No. No no no no NO this shouldn't be happening. This couldn't be happening. Normally, back when anything was normal, Henry would have loved this. There were some pretty cool games here and even as the boring twin, he could get into a good roller coaster. It was the kind of thing he'd always wanted to experience. But now . . . now that it was just another sign that people were generally better off without him . . . he couldn't help thinking that it might not be motion sickness that made him throw up today. But he had a part to play so, just like he always had, he put on a smile for his mom and for Oz and he bounced and tried to feel some of his brother's contagious excitement. Because he was excited, and he sort of hated that about himself too. He had no right to be excited that his absence from his mother's life meant now she could afford these things and yet she still spent the money on him and Oz. He had no right to be excited that they finally got to do something they'd always wanted to do but couldn't because it was too expensive when he was about to fly back off to magic school with magic food and magic abundance and magic people who couldn't take five seconds to look past the end of their own stupid wands to see a world of people who needed help. He'd thought it was his job now to make sure that he was better than that, that he learned everything he could learn so he could make things better for people who didn't have magic and didn't have abundance, but now it seemed like the best thing he could do was to get out of their lives. Perhaps the Statute of Secrecy suddenly made sense - was it better for non-magical people if magical people just disappeared? Was that why magic school was far away? Why he and Oz had been sent far away?

He really tried to enjoy it and for a moment, when they were at the top of the first roller coaster and everything in his stomach, including his stomach itself, felt like it was going to come out his mouth, he did enjoy it a bit. It was fun and exciting and new. He was determined to go on every ride and play every game as many times as he could because he had to make this ride band worth it for his mom to have spent so much money on. And when she offered to buy them food, he picked the cheapest, smallest thing, and he said it was because he didn't want to throw up on the next ride but it wasn't. He wanted to throw up anyway. And Oz was bouncing. Henry wanted to bounce. He didn't want Oz to think he was weirder than he already did or to be bored of him.

When they'd all sat down for a minute to take a break and when they'd finished the giant alien-colored Slurpee they'd shared, mom suggested they stop by the bathroom before continuing. From the way she leaned back in her chair and the put her feet out a little bit, Henry suspected it was as much to give her a break from walking around anymore as anything and he nodded, getting up with Oz (because the buddy system was important) and giving his mom a kiss on the cheek before they made their way to the bathroom. When they were out of ear shot, Henry spoke without looking at his brother.

"I feel bad," he said quietly, knowing that Oz was familiar enough with his anxieties and worries that it wouldn't be too revealing to admit some of them. "This had to cost so much."

22 Henry Spellman I feel like screaming. 1513 0 5

Oz Spellman

March 11, 2021 6:32 AM

Yes, fewer thoughts, more screaming by Oz Spellman

From the moment they were waved in with a corporate-mandated ‘I hope your day is out of this world,’ Oz had been having the best time. The shiny metal turnstile clicked behind them and it was a forcible barrier between him and all the things that worried him. Okay, he wasn’t as far away as he was at Sonora, and for a while he had to fight the fear that he was just going to round a corner and find that someone he didn’t want to see was here for the day too. He had bad dreams like that sometimes, where they showed up at Sonora. But that was just a bad dream. This was… It was not quite reality. That was the best part about this place. It had that in common with Sonora. It was this whole other world that seemed totally unreal, but where the problems he was used to simply didn’t exist.

They even had money for food and drinks. Mom had water and snacks in her bag too, of course, because a bottle of water was a bottle of water and there was no point paying silly money for those. But they got theme food too. It was totally Oz’ best day ever. Maybe even better than finding out he was a wizard, because this was a thing mom was getting to enjoy too.

He was caught off guard as they made their way to the bathroom, and Henry voiced his concern. Henry had been screaming and laughing alongside him, and he thought he was having a good time. The cost of the trip had weighed most heavily on him when they’d been approaching the theme park. When he had been trying to work out where they might be going instead because it couldn’t be here. Since the time when it had turned out to be here, he had accepted that at face value.

“Yeah,” he said, because he couldn’t disagree that it cost a lot. “I keep being afraid I’m gonna somehow lose this or something,” he stated, holding up his wrist, where the bright green band still glowed reassuringly and offensively neon. But mom let Henry look after house keys and important things because he was the responsible one, so it was probably a different kind of worried for Henry. He often thought about how much money they had, or didn’t have. Money had a weird way of fluctuating. What having a lot of it, or spending a reasonable amount of it was really varied depending on circumstances. Ones that Henry was way better at tracking than Oz. But the one who was even better at it was Mom. Technically, Henry wasn’t supposed to worry about how much money they did or didn’t have because that was a Mom problem. And when it was a thing they ran out of, it usually wasn’t Mom’s fault, it was usually something unexpected going wrong/Oz screwing up, like when he’d broken his arm… “But mom’s sensible,” he reassured Henry. “If she says we can afford it, we can.” He knew there were some people at school whose parents weren’t as good at planning, or saying no, or whatever else, and they got more things than Oz and Henry, but then those things usually mysteriously vanished, or there was some other consequence, the invisible price that got paid in missing school supplies, or skipped breakfast. Mom made sure important things got sorted first.

13 Oz Spellman Yes, fewer thoughts, more screaming 1514 0 5