new york wolves } of school days uncle bonding.

[babybeta]

Leah: [eating eating eating and ...] You okay kiddo?

Liam: Yeah. Just thinking.

Leah: About what?

Liam: Well, the kids at the skate park were asking about why I'm not in school and were telling me about their place.

Leah: What school do they go to?

Liam: Leman Prep.

Leah: That's a good school.

Liam: Yeah, I heard. But it's kinda impossible to get in and it's way expensive. I probably wouldn't even pass the tests.

Leah: Well, if that's what you want, we can work on it. Never know until we try.

Liam: Yeah, but I was never really great at school. It’d be a waste of money.

Leah: It's never a waste of money if it's what you want. In fact, we actually know a really good tutor.

Liam: [wrinkles his nose]

Leah: You've met Malia, right?

Liam: The Hale who dances?

Leah: Yeah. She spent three years as an actual coyote, and Laura got her all caught up and passing her tests well enough to get into Marlowe Prep. I'm sure if we asked, she would help you too.

Liam: [purses his lips] I guess we could try.

Leah: [she smiles softly] It won't be so bad. She's got a couple dogs too.

Liam: Like how many is a couple?

Leah: Two. A English mastiff named Barron and a golden retriever named Bucky.

Liam: They like the letter B, huh?

Leah: I guess so.

Liam: [he looks at his food, and then nods] I'd like to try.

Leah: Okay. I'll call Laura later and see if she's available.

Liam: Okay. Cool. [finishes his lunch] Um, can I have more?

Leah: Sure. Have as much as you like.

Liam: [grins and gets up to get more food because he's a growing boy]

Leah: [yep, him and Nik both, while Leah will call Laura to try and schedule time for her to tutor Liam, as well as talking to Victor about connections he might have at the school]

Liam: Do I have to have training today, Uncle Nik?

Nik: Sure, kiddo. I've got some free time.

Liam: What can we do?

Nik: Want to work on tracking some more?

Liam: Sure.

Nik: Okay. Let's head to the park.

Liam: [grins and goes to get his sneakers]

Nik: [and off they will go to have some fun outside, probably chasing squirrels and finding hot dog carts from across the park]

Liam: [mmm, dirty water dogs. And Liam is a very quick study. Much more intelligent than he gives himself credit for]

Nik: [he really is. once Laura catches him up, he'll do fine]

Liam: [but for now] So what else do you do around here, Uncle Nik?

Nik: I'm what they call a day trader.

Liam: That's something on Wall Street, right?

Nik: Yeah. Basically I help recommend investments for people.

Liam: And that helps them... make money?

Nik: Yeah. It's complicated.

Liam: I have five dollars. Can you make it into more money?

Nik: Yeah, but it's not an immediate thing. [he moves to sit on the bench next to him] Basically, I research companies. And if they look like a good risk, I'll recommend them to my clients. So say I recommended you buy shares in Apple. That money goes into their business, and they use it to make more iPads and iPhones and all that. More people buy their phones, and they make more money, which makes the value of the stock go up, so when you sell it, you're getting back more than you paid.

Liam: And if you buy stock in a dud, you lose the money?

Nik: Yep, that's the downside. If the company doesn't do as well, the price of the stock goes down, and you don't make as much when you sell.

Liam: And then people are mad at you?

Nik: Yeah. Especially if they lost a lot of money.

Liam: Do they try to hurt you?

Nik: No. But if I didn't make trades responsibly, I could go to jail.

Liam: I don't think there's a jail that could hold you.

Nik: They can if I'm playing by human rules.

Liam: Yeah, but human rules suck sometimes.

Nik: They do. But we exist in both worlds. If we break human rules, then we have to accept human punishments.

Liam: Yeah, but the humans break our rules all the time and don't care.

Nik: Yeah, but some of them don't even know our rules are there. There's a difference between ignorance and consciously breaking them.

Liam: [just huffs] Sometimes I wish I was just a normal human.

Nik: I know, bud.

Liam: But if I'm going to be a wolf, I'm going to be the best damn wolf so no one can hurt me or the people I care about again.

Nik: That's not a bad goal.

Liam: You'll teach me, right? I mean, you're kinda awesome.

Nik: Yeah, I can definitely teach you. But sometimes ... sometimes you can't fix everything.

Liam: What do you mean?

Nik: Even if you're the best wolf in the world - you can't always save everyone. That's the rule of any world.

Liam: [looks down at his hands because yeah, he didn't want to hear that]

Nik: [wraps his arms around his shoulders] Sometimes there's just bad luck. And it's hard, to deal with that, but that's the point. It's not supposed to be easy.

Liam: What's the point of it then if you can't even save everyone?

Nik: Because you can save some of them.

Liam: I guess.

Nik: Death is a part of life, kiddo. And it hurts, but my mom used to say that that's how we know it was worth something.

Liam: Death sucks.

Nik: Yes, it does.

Liam: [leans into Nik]

Nik: [squeezes his shoulders]

Liam: I miss them.

Nik: I know you do.

Liam: Sometimes I just wish... I wish I could ask my mom what I'm supposed to do.

Nik: I don't know if I could speak for her, but I think she would want you to grow up and be happy. Find a good family and live a good life. It's what every mom wants.

Liam: You know, I really hated you when you found me. But you turned out to be okay.

Nik: [he chuckles] Thanks.

Liam: And well, if Mom did say that to me... I at least got one of them down.

Nik: [gives him a small smile before nodding] Guess you gotta just work on the other ones.

Liam: Guess so.

Nik: I think you'll figure it out.

Liam: I probably have to really go back to school though, huh, if I want any of that.

Nik: That's probably a good idea.

Liam: I hate school.

Nik: I did too.

Liam: Especially on full moon days.

Nik: Those'll get easier as you get older.

Liam: I hope so.

Nik: It's like any other skill. It takes practice.

Liam: I know.

Nik: You'll be fine. I've got faith.

Liam: [looks up at him and he gets a half smirk] Thanks.

Nik: [smirks back before pushing to his feet] C'mon. Let's head back in.

Liam: Sure. [and he will poke Nik's arm] You're it. [and he's off.

Nik: [laughs and shakes his head before he heads to chase after him]

Liam: [he's small, fast, and able to use it to his advantage to weave through things]

Nik: [but crowds part for Nik and just before he reaches the edge of the park, he manages to grab him by the scruff of her neck]

Liam: ACK! [and he will stumble into Nik's side]

Nik: Gotcha.

Liam: I got further this time.

Nik: Yep. You're getting better.

Liam: Soon you won't be able to catch me, and they you'll be sorry.

Nik: We'll see about that.

Liam: It will happen. I swear.

Nik: Good luck.

Liam: [grins]

Nik: C'mon. Let's get upstairs for dinner.

Liam: Alright. [and up they go]