Open I'm Not Scared Of Parks

[Helios Obasi]

Helios had not wanted to come to the park. The park was busy, there were always lots of kids running around and he wasn't a massive fan of that. He wasn't a massive fan of a lot of things to do with it. The things in the park were dangerous, and no one else, ever seemed to get it. But his sister had needed to go do something, and left him at the part because it was 'fun'. He didn't think so, and had said as much but she hadn't listened. He was staying near the entrance, watching as other kids raced around doing things that were doing. Helios could see them balancing on swings, not being careful on the slide, and he just stood in place, unwilling to get involved. Not because he was scared to get close, but it just wasn't his problem if these kids wanted to hurt themselves.

 

[Hazel Ashworth]

Hazel was a little disappointed she hadn't been able to convince her mum to buy her new craft supplies. It probably had something to do with the mess she had made in the living room a few days ago, but really, she wouldn't have had to cut up the tablecloth if she had some decent fabric to work with. Still, Hazel knew better than to press the issue, she was lucky to even be allowed to go along on this shopping trip, as her mother could have been angry enough to ground her. After going to a few stores, Hazel was allowed to go play in the park for a bit. That was fun, even if it wasn't as fun as buying craft supplies. The girl ran up to the playground, but stopped when she saw a familiar face from daycare. "Hey, Helios!" She called with a wave before skipping over to him. "Funny to see you here, are you going to play too?"

 

[Helios Obasi]

Helios had been stood at the side of the park for a little bit, content to just wait there until his sister came to get him but he got no such luxury. Instead a girl from his class at the day care centre decided to speak to him. "Hi Hazel," he greeted crossing his arms over his chest. "Nope," he replied, "I'm okay here," he gestured vaguely to where he was stood.

 

[Hazel Ashworth]

Hazel didn't know Helios all that well, and she was a little surprised by his answer. She had assumed he had been ready to jump in too and had just arrived around the same time as she had. Hazel blinked a few times, then tilted her head to the side. "Huh, why?" She asked. "The playground is more fun than hanging around here by yourself."

 

[Helios Obasi]

Helios shook his head. "I happen to think standing here is fun," Helios retorted. It wasn't really what he thought, it wasn't really fun, but it was safe, and he preferred to be safer than to have to play on things where he could get hurt. "You can go have, fun, though," Helios wasn't going to stop her from playing on the dangerous equipment, he just wasn't.

 

[Hazel Ashworth]

Hazel stared at Helios, wondering if he was trying to make a joke. She tilted her head slightly. "Wait, do you really?" She asked, when it started to look like he was serious. She frowned. "What's fun about it?" She asked, moving to stand next to him. She crossed her arms, trying it out for a few moments before shaking her head. "Nope, not fun at all.

 

[Helios Obasi]

Helios didn't think she would believe him, or try it, given that it wasn't really because he found it fun, mostly that everything else was kind of terrifying. Helios rolled his eyes at her. "Okay, well, you can go have fun now on the death traps in the park," he suggested with a slightly short tone, not particularly interested in keeping up this conversation with her.

 

[Hazel Ashworth]

Hazel frowned when Helios rolled his eyes at her, she hadn't been rude. She had just questioned what he found fun for a bit, which she thought was reasonable when the thing he was claiming was fun was just... standing around doing nothing. She huffed. "With 'death traps', do you mean normal playground equipment?" She asked him skeptically.

 

[Helios Obasi]

Helios nodded as if it was obvious, that of course he was talking about the equipment. "Playgrounds can be dangerous, you can fall. In 2012, in Canada, there were 29,000 kids were injured by falling off playground equipment," he replied. He knew that was a while ago, but it was the best figure that he had. "It's just an unnecessary risk when I can just stay here,"

 

[Hazel Ashworth]

Hazel stared at Helios and tilted her head. "Okay, so?" She asked him. "If you fall and get hurt, someone will fix you up. Also, that statistic might be more impressive if it wasn't nearly forty years ago. And was it a magical playground?" She shook her head. "I bet the ground has been spelled so you don't even fall very hard." She nudged him. "C'mon, give it a try. I bet you can go down the slide without falling off, or sit on the swings. That's not that risky, is it?" She asked, urging him to try.

 

[Helios Obasi]

Helios shook his head. "I don't think we should just blindly trust that magic will fix everything," Helios replied before shaking his head. He stepped away from her to prevent any further nudging. "No thank you, I do not want to, but by all means go yourself," Helios replied, the idea of spending time going up the slide to then do so fast down it. He was not interested, and sitting on a swing might seem harmless but he was bound to end up being knocked off it as someone else tried to move around him.

 

[Hazel Ashworth]

Hazel frowned when Helios said he didn't think they should blindly trust magic. She didn't get it. "Why not? What doesn't it fix?" She asked as she had never heard of anything not being fixed by magic before. She sighed when he said he didn't want to. "Aren't you going to Hogwarts next year?" She asked him. "Don't you think that's going to be way scarier than a simple slide?" She wondered if this was a mean thing to say, but it was the truth. How was he going to survive even the train ride if he was this scared?

 

[Helios Obasi]

Helios shrugged. "Plenty things," he replied with a shrug, he didn't particularly want to get into it with her. Though it was true that a slide was not nearly as dangerous as the train and further a lot of Hogwarts, but there was no other way to get to school, so he'd have to just handle it. "Yeah, I know," he replied. "I won't have a choice with that, I have a choice here, and it's not to go on the slide," Helios told her. If she pushed it any more he knew he had to just walk away.

 

[Hazel Ashworth]

Hazel had her doubts about magic not fixing everything, and Helios' evasive answer confirmed it in her mind. "Name one." She challenged, putting one hand on her hip. She was a little shocked by how he seemed to dread Hogwarts, and she stared at him. "You act like you don't even want to go there. That's not true, is it?" She asked him, eyes wide.