paradisa | page eighteen (backdated to 6/23)

[ Arya and Robb ]

[His nose sounds stuffed, but he's at least past the point of sniffling. He did, at least, get to see her, however brief it was.]

Is there still [there's an uncertain moment where he decides whether or not to say 'my'] a room? Up there with you guys?

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[In the wake of August's announcement (and his own evidence, plain as the nameplate by the door), Henry has kept to himself. He wants to talk, but not so much about how much he misses his mother. It's a strange position to be in.

Now, he does his best to sound upbeat, but it falls miles short of his usual pep and excitability. It has a slight rambling quality to it.]

You know, I always kind of thought that real dinosaurs would look kind of different from the pictures everybody always drew of them, but they weren't. Not really. My-- [he falters] I used to go to the museum, at home, and look at them. I kinda wish I'd gotten to see one of the bone-head ones. I forget what their name is.

I think I'll be okay with just looking at bones from now on, though.

It's, um. I mean, I still like them. Even after everything that happened. I'll still go to the museum, if I get back. [The 'if' came out before the 'when,' just on reflex. Henry swallows hard.] When, I mean. When I get back. Because everybody does eventually, right?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I opened one, once. But I didn't have a lot of [any] money as a kid, so we never really took trips anywhere.

I wonder if we have one here? If we don't, we should. I bet Paradisa has a bunch of stuff we could put in a cool museum.

It's be a hodge-podge of a museum. What with all the different worlds people are from and all.

That's how all the best museums are. Otherwise they get really boring really fast.

I think it would be cool.

A lot of people would think museums are boring. You know, the sort of people who'd rather be outside or watching a movie or going to a party.

But yeah, it would be cool.

I like outside, movies, parties, and museums. It's not that weird.

Yeah, well, you're a kid. You haven't found your niche yet.

Are you saying I'm gonna have to give up some of them when I get older?

Probably. It's just the way life goes. As you get older, you've got less and less time to do fun things. You need to work, do taxes, all that kinda thing. You just have to let some stuff go.

You should enjoy being a kid while you can.