My world is different to anything you know (Hunter/Sam)

Enitan smiled as she watched his head bob, before slowly reaching out and running her fingers over his rough hide, a little in awe as the creature just sat there, letting her stroke him gently. She wondered how silly she’d look with him sitting across her shoulders comfortably, the way bindi would… and would her rat get jealous? She’d have to find out. “Mum said it was huge, and that they taught all sorts of interesting things there. She said Hogwarts was very similar.” the girl wondered if her mom had just been trying to get her excited to go, or if she had actually enjoyed it as much as she claimed to have. “You’re so pretty.” she murmured, still stroking the creature as Sam explained a little about him.

Looking up when he changed the topic, she smiled. “I like that one there. Maybe with the bird on the left and the leafy wreath on the right?” she’d painted to look more summery, with little flowers on it, even if the shape was a christmas decoration. Enitan hadn’t felt might like christmas the past few years. But making all these cool shapes had been exceedingly fun for her. “That would look really pretty I think.” she was still petting blue, glad that Bindi had eaten so well. The rat usually slept for a bit after she ate a large meal, so she was pretty sure that they weren’t going to run into any issues. At least today. Maybe they could properly introduce the two tomorrow.

The girl moved away from the Iguana to look into the gecko tank, smiling brightly. “Oh they’re pretty too!” she grinned, looking back up at him. She was getting really warm, wearing so many layers of clothing, and moved back away from Sam’s pets so she could take off her hoodie and cloak. Not that she had anywhere to put them, and she’d had to disturb Bindi in the process, so the rat let out an angry little chirp even as she folded them over her arms and  nestled the rat back in them. She was still warm, but it wasn’t so bad anymore, and since for the moment she had nowhere to put her clothes, on her person they stayed. Not that she had much that had fit her anyways.

As Enitan made suggestions, he levitated the decorations one at a time and hung them in the window panes. Actually Sam didn't mind where they went; it was just weird how right this felt. But he had a terrible sense of sadness too, that he'd missed out on so much. Her entire life up until this point, in fact. He had so many questions - had she got any photographs in her bag of when she was a baby or a toddler? He had a sudden need to know what she'd looked like when she was tiny. Then something even more important occurred - had she got any pictures with her mother? Sam hoped there was at least one so they could frame it and put it in her bedroom. And surround it with stars.

His smile was sad, but the little girl was still petting the iguana, her back to him for the moment. Blue appeared entirely comfortable with the situation, as if strange little girls walked in every day to make friends with him. Sam guessed the lizard's time at Hogwarts had stood him in good stead for today. “How does that look?” he asked, looking up at the window “Where shall we hang the rest? Do you think they'll work in groups or should we just put one in each window pane?” Personally Sam rather liked the idea of hanging them all together in a group, like year-round Christmas decorations, but he was determined to go with whatever the little girl wanted.

But she was a little distracted, now crossing to the geckoes. Sam followed and stood behind her, “Yeah - Houdini's definitely got out again” he said, peering into the tank “Hopefully we'll be able to find him soon, but if not I leave some food on top of their tank. He comes back quickly enough when he's hungry. Only...the geckoes like to eat insects” he grimaced, hoping as she moved away that she wasn't afraid of crickets or other bugs. At least Sam's home was never troubled by flies or wasps in the summer.

Then he heard the rat squeak and turned, realising Enitan had taken her cloak and sweater off. That was when he noticed something else, too. How mismatched and worn her clothes were. He supposed she hadn't had much chance to go shopping for a good while; probably having left the childrens' home with no more than what she stood up in and whatever she could fit into her bag. Even without the sweater she still had a good few layers on, nothing that looked new or even particularly clean right now. That was something else they would need to go shopping for tomorrow. “You can put them on the sofa for now, if you like” he said, nodding to the cloak and sweater in her arms. Once they'd hung the decorations he wanted to sort out her room next.

Enitan watched him hang them critically, like a gallery owner deciding the right placement for her exhibits. She nodded her approval when the rest of them were done up. “I want to keep them all in the livingroom… maybe a group in each window? Four on the two side ones and those three in the middle like that?” she suggested thoughtfully. Those three were really the only ones that went together well, but she’d done her best to divide up the others, picking back up the star as she put her coats down over the back of one of the chairs and sat down in it, sighing. She’d been on her feet a lot lately, and this chair was really comfortable.

But she’d caught the look he gave her clothes, and looked down at them. Two pairs of leggings, capris, a thick skirt that came down to her knees. And two tank tops, t shirt, a heavier baggy long sleeved shirt a size too big… she was a mess, and none of it looked good. Nothing except her super shiny pink light up sneakers that never got dirty.  “If the Geckos only eat insects how do you leave them on top of the tank?” she asked. “Don’t they just run all over the place?” she didn’t seem at all bothered by this idea, her legs swinging. “There was a cricket in the livingroom at hunters once, and it was so loud I couldn't sleep…. But then Bindi disappeared… the crunching sound when she ate it was worse… but it stopped chirping.” she smiled a little proudly as she pet her rat at that morbid little tale.

She leaned over his paintings again while she waited for him to finish hanging up the other decorations, carefully turning one page after another, a smile on her face as she admired the pretty colors and scenes. “Do you…. Ever paint people?” she asked, looking up at him curiously, though with obvious intent for a follow up question.

“That works for me” he said, following her suggestions as he hung up the ornaments in the groupings she wanted, moving them one at a time so the strings wouldn't get tangled together. He didn't worry about dividing the two outside groups further, but hung them so there was a mixture of colours in each of the windows. “Like this?” he asked, and then realised she'd had sat down. And she looked tired - Sam didn't want to ask when she'd last curled up on a sofa and actually relaxed like a child should be able to. It was easier to answer her questions, at least for the moment. “Yeah...when they're in their tank I put live insects in. I know, it's not very nice for the insects, but they don't get scared like we do” he tried to explain, not wanting Enitan to think he was the sort of heartless person that didn't care about living things. Then she concluded her tale about her rat crunching up a cricket and he decided it probably wasn't going to be a problem. He snorted a little, tried to turn it onto a laugh “but I've got a few dead ones I leave out for Houdini. Most nights he's sitting waiting on the tank before I go to bed, because he prefers them crunchy too...”

Then she was leaning over the chair and started looking through his paintings. Some of these weren't finished, but she didn't seem to mind or notice. It seemed to Sam that she was looking for something specific. “Not very often. I don't think I'm much good as a portrait painter, but I've done a few. They're much more difficult to charm correctly so the movements look right...I can do regular non-moving pictures though. How about you? Have you tried painting people? Or making sculptures - little statues?” He was about to say more, then remembered that there were a couple of portraits - ones he'd painted several years earlier - in the studio that was about to become her bedroom. She could take a look at those later and judge for herself.

In the meantime though, it looked like she was exhausted. Sam felt a little that way himself, though he wasn't about to sit down while there was still work to do. “We can fix your room now if you like” he said “or if you want to sit for a while I can tidy things out...oh. And the bathroom's just through there, if you need...” he pointed to a closed door a little further along from the kitchen and trailed off a little awkwardly. He had been about to say “if you'd like to take a bath or anything”, but he didn't want the little girl to feel like he was judging her dishevelled appearance.

Enitan nodded as he asked if the arrangements he’d put them up in was good. “I like them. I think I’ll need to make more. So we can do the rest of the windows in the living room.” She smiled, really enjoying how eager he was to put up her artwork. It definitely helped to make her feel more at home here, even if his place was nice. She just wanted to throw her stuff around, so it looked like she lived there too. But that would happen, without her marking her territory like an angry Lion. the girl giggled a little when he snorted, figuring his explanation made sense and amused by how he laughed, glad he didn’t think she was grossed out by bugs or anything. Maybe spiders, but that was when they fell on her unexpectedly. Most unexpected things startled her. Bindi usually bit, or ate them when they scared her however. She hoped that wouldn’t happen when it shouldn’t. She was easily frightened, after all.

“I’m not good at people. I can make cartoony looking people, but not a specific person… I’ve tried.” the last part was added sadly. She’d tried to make a clay doll of her mother, but it had never looked right, and in the end she’d smashed it and made a bird instead. She really hoped to get to see some of his pictures. Especially the moving ones. These didn’t appear to be enchanted yet, if he intended to do so. 

She looked where he pointed to the bathroom, and looked a little relieved, but then hesitated. “Can I take a bath?” she asked. “Whats my time limit?” there was always a time limit where she’d been. Even with her mother at the last place they’d lived, because after about five minutes the water got freezing cold. She didn’t know anything else, or to even expect that there might not be one. “If you… wanted to clean up the room while i did that, that's fine.” he’d mentioned before that it was cluttered.

"That's a great plan! When we get the clay, you'll have to show me how you make them...uh, if you want to" Sam said, trailing off a little uncertainly at the end. He hoped that hadn't sounded patronising, but he meant it. Obviously he could have figured out how to make simple decorations himself if he'd wanted to, but he liked the idea of making something with the little girl. His daughter.

That was the first time he'd really thought of her in that way. The truth was beginning to sink in on a deeper level, the recognition that this was the first day of something very different for both of them. It was scary and exciting, and an emotional roller coaster. Sam hadn't yet fully processed the fact that Tatiana had died, but now he had a sudden thought, disconnected for the moment from Enitan, that this was the first time that a former lover of his had passed away. It made him very aware of his own mortality, sorry that he hadn't been able to help, and...he could deal with that another time. Probably when he was trying to sleep, because his mind was surely not going to shut itself off tonight no matter how tired he got later on. The roller coaster reached the top of that emotional hill and, with the child's explanation that she couldn't draw specific people, again plummeted down at terrific speed.

"Have you got a photo of your Mum?" he asked quietly "I remember how she looks but...that was before you were born. If you've got a more recent one I can paint her. If you'd like me to, that is?" Was that what she was asking? He wasn't sure, was worried that he'd somehow say the wrong thing and upset her. Somewhere at the back of his mind Sam was aware that he wasn't acting like a parent. Not yet. Now they were still finding out about each other; there would be time for rules and things like that later.

Or perhaps there wouldn't. He was surprised by the next question. Sure she could take a bath, but a time limit? Why would she think there was a time limit? Sam opened his mouth to say she could take as long as she liked, then remembered that  she'd shared with five other girls - or had she said six - at the childrens' home. No doubt there had been limits there, and not just from the adults either. "Uh...an hour?" he said, though it sounded more like another question than a definite answer. She might want to wash her hair as well, so that would take longer... "The right tap's the hot one, and I think there's some bubble bath left if you want to use that..." another sharper movement of his wand summoned a couple of towels "...here, you can have these. And I'll have your bedroom ready by the time you come out." She might well have a towel in that bag of hers, he thought, but he doubted it was going to be entirely clean.

Enitan smiled brightly when Sam suggested they could make more together. She absolutely loved the idea, and her face seemed to light up at the sugestion. “I’d really like that! We can make them together and decorate more of the windows.” she added, looking up at the ones she’d made so far, back to holding onto the star. They were really pretty all hanging up like that, and that made her happy. Everything was going to be okay. She found her father looking a little sad when she looked back over at him, and his next question made her realize that he had figured out what she had been asking. She looked down at her hands, swallowing.

“I have a bunch… from before… when I got her back she didn’t want to take any.” this was said quietly, as if the reason for the lack of pictures was easily understood. “She even… she even found a few from when she was in africa… all I have though is the back of your head.” she smiled a little at that, trying to make things better. “Mum liked pictures of animals more then people, I guess.” but she hadn’t answered his question, determined to make him smile a little after she’d made him frown unintentionally. “I’d really like that… I miss her a lot.” the girl chewed hard on her lip, trying not to cry. She didn’t want to cry, because then he was probably going to cry, and they’d both be crying and that would be terrible. Absolutely 100% terrible.

But fortunately the subject of washing came up, and her eyes bulged out of her head at the time frame he gave her. That was enough time for a full bath, and to wash her hair really well. And to play in the tub if she were little. That was almost too much time. A smile crossed her face again, and then a grin. “I don’t think it will take me thaaaat long. But okay.” no time limits. Well almost no time limits. She couldn’t imagine such a thing, except for in her wildest fantasies. She didn’t have to rush! And he had bubble bath. She didn’t ask why a grown man had bubble bath. They were fun, and adults who said they were only for little kids were boring old grouches.

She took the towels from him and smiled, before looking down at the star in her hand. She gently held it out to him, treating it with incredible care. “Can you put this in a window where i can see it while I’m sleeping?” she asked softly, since he was going to be doing her room while she was in the bath anyways.

Sam had a sudden vision of the future, not the kind that was real and left him with a headache afterwards, but the everyday, daydream-kind. In another month all the windows would be filled with homemade decorations. There would be some hanging from the ceiling too, and maybe even a few just suspended from nothing, like the candles in the Great Hall at Hogwarts. He knew that spell, it looked impressive but a permanent levitation charm really wasn't that difficult. As soon as Enitan turned eleven he could teach her too, take her to buy her own wand...

First things first. He was going to say that he'd do his best to paint Tatiana in a way they both remembered, that he would love to see the photos later if she was okay with that, but instead he ended up laughing a little. The back of his head? Well, that explained things even more. It hadn't occurred to Sam that the woman would have had a photo of him, but it made more sense that she hadn't. Neither of them had owned a camera whilst travelling; the few pictures he owned from those years were thanks to the kindness of others, people who had taken a picture and given it to him a few days later. The thought of a photo of the back of his head amused him just enough that he could keep his own sadness at bay and hug the little girl. “I know you miss her. I think you always will. But...it'll get easier, and you'll always have your good memories” he said, knowing that words just sometimes weren't enough.

And even the good memories might not be enough, he was beginning to realise. Because a child who looked as delighted as Enitan just because she was told she could spend an hour in the bathroom might not have as many good memories as she deserved. Sam wondered what else he was going to learn about her. As self-reliant as she had clearly managed to be in order to slip out of the childrens' home and find him, that had to have affected her in ways they were both going to learn about later.

For now...he'd just have to do the best he could. He took the star ornament from her as if it was made of solid gold.“Of course I will...” he looked down at her for a moment longer, realising that he was smiling, then said  “see you in a hour” and went into what until half an hour earlier had been his studio. Now it was his daughter's bedroom filled with easels and canvasses. First things first. He took the star across to the window, suspending it in the central pane, then stepped back. Fine. Now, he needed to tidy the canvasses, transfigure something into a bed until they could get a real one, find some bedlinen and a pillow and hope it was in a colour she liked, and... Sam let out a breath and closed his eyes as the reality of the situation hit him once again. He was a father.

[Sam out]

Enitan smiled when he laughed, and then put down the towels so she could go digging through her bag once more, and pulled out a leather bound photo album full of muggle polaroids. Full was a strong word, as there wasn’t much in it, but the first third was pictures in africa…. And Enitan finally pulled out the one she was looking for and held it out to him so he could see it. It was indeed, Tatiana smiling gleefully at the camera, with a carefree glance over at the back of a head covered in hair the color of the dried grasses they were riding through in the back of a muggle jeep. She looked mid laugh, and that was the way Enitan liked to remember her mother. “She was always laughing… and smiling. Even when things were bad...” she smiled a little, before putting it away, but leaving the photo album out, almost absentmindedly. Or an invitation.

Picking up the towels again, she grinned when he said he’d see her in an hour, and headed for the bathroom. It was small, but more than enough space for a girl her size, and the bubble bath was easy to find. And best of all she didn’t have to run hot water, then cold water, then more hot water, and hope it got to the right temperature, or rely on the old hag to make her a lukewarm bath. Enitan prefered to feel like a boiled lobster in the tub.

She sank down into the water and let out a sigh, her eyes and nose barely above the bubbles, and the top of her scraggly hair looking like a dome shaped island. She was content for all of thirty seconds, before she started crying, pulling her knees up to her chin and burying her face, silent sobs wracking her small frame as Bindi made a nest out of the pile of clothes that she’d left on the floor, seemingly unconcerned. It was over. There was releif, but everything she’d been feeling for the past few months finally came out in one vicious release of greif and rage and sorrow. Perhaps she was going to need the whole hour after all…

[Enitan out]