Closed The value of hard work

[Demi Zephyr]

Even though her legs were starting to get pretty hot, Demi refused to come down from the roof of the car. She liked it up here, she had an excellent vantage point, and could easily see what her father and brother were doing around her, all while sitting comfortably and having the freedom to gently swing her legs from side to side if she wanted to. The sun was beating down on the family as they worked outside in the warm afternoon, and although she seemed to just be making the most of soaking up the sun, she was paying more attention to what her father was saying that she really let on. Hair tied back in pigtails, oversized shirt, shorts and thin tights allowed her to both be practical and look good when she was outside, just in case one of the neighbors happened to call by. Not that the Zephyr's had that opportunity too often out here, where the closest places you could buy a pint of milk was a good fifteen minute walk, but you never could tell.

Demi leant forward, clasping the bracelets around her left wrist with her right hand, playing with them as she turned her head towards Aion who was resuming his position underneath the hood of the car, trying to resolve his issue with the truck. Demi's father still had the jeep that he once used to travel and see her mum when she was at Hogwarts, although it was somewhat worn out now and was kept for more sentimental value than anything. In its place, her father had purchased a large dark orange truck that was big enough for their big family and a handful of creatures too, should the need arise. The bracelet's on her wrist had been a theft from Iris, but she had doubts that her elder sister would notice, unless she broke it of course and then they'd have been her favourite bracelets. "Why don't you just get a new one?" she asked her father as he mentioned something else about the small part of the internal engine he was trying to fix in time for the weekend trip into town. Demi had wanted to go too of course, but Aion had told her he needed to go by himself for this one, much to her disappointment.

 

[Ares Zephyr]

Ares had only walked outside because he wanted to know what his dad and Demi were talking about. By the time he actually got out there and he realized they were just fixing the car, Ares' attention was immediately lost and instantly regretted making the journey out here, not least because he'd come out with no shoes on and now his socks were covered in tiny little stones that liked to stick to his feet. He was groaning before his dad even spotted he was outside, and it didn't long until the door of the family truck was being open and he was ushered inside, allowed to sit in the prime passenger seat cozy and comfortable and had his little socks brushed off so it was nice and clean again. Ares had started to suspect he was the favourite in his family, although he didn't want to tell anyone and ruin the fact he knew. It didn't take a whole long of whining on his part for a situation to be resolved for Ares, but he had begun to notice that his older sisters didn't have it quite as easy. Ares just supposed they weren't as a good as he was, and that because he was the youngest of the family, they probably wanted him to be the happiest too.

"It's too hot," he said, paying no mind to the fact that Demi was sat on the roof above him, nor that they'd previously been preoccupied before he arrived. Even though Ares' eyes were focused on what his dad was doing, he didn't really know what he was doing, nor why. It just looked fiddly and boring and his dad didn't look as though he really wanted to be out here. Well neither did Ares anymore. "I want to go inside." he announced, despite the fact he'd only been there for a few minutes, and started to edge his way back off the passenger seat.

 

[Aion Zephyr]

Growing up with his own parents, Aion hadn't been particularly close to either of them. They'd been so engrossed in their own lives, and what they believed would be best for Aion, than the did about allowing Aion to find things out for himself and to spend time with him. As such the former Ravenclaw had over the years invested more of his time into learning and reading as much as he could from external materials, but it meant that his family bonds had never been tight until he'd met his own family. He knew from the moment Cyan told him that she was pregnant with Iris that he wanted his daughter to experience a different upbringing to the one he had had, and it was no different now they were four children deep. Each one had different traits and abilities and Aion was proud of them all and who they were growing into.

Iris as it turned out, was a hard one to crack. She was so much like her mother, and so attached to Cyan that it made things difficult to Aion to bond with her in the way he wanted to. While he helped Iris as much as he could, and made sure to provide and support her, Iris would seek Cyan's help and approval for the majority of matters. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that when Iris was young, Aion had been away from the house much more than he ever was now. By the time Demi was born, the Zephyr's had moved into a new house, a permanent house, and somewhere they could call their home base as the girls grew up. With Demi it had been different. His second born daughter seemed to take in information like a sponge, and with that Aion had tried to give her as much of what he had as he could. It wasn't the first time that Aion had found a task around the home that he could involve Demi in, and he treasured the time they had together as he was well aware that one day, she would no longer need him anymore.

"Just because we can, doesn't mean we should," he replied to his daughter, looking up to her and squinting as the sun shone towards his eyes. Aion was filthy at this point, oil and dirt up to his elbows. He certainly wasn't going to be allowed back into the house until he'd showered. A small patter of feet drew his attention to the fact that Ares had now joined them outside, and opening the car door he allowed his son to hop up into the seat. By the time Aion and Cyan had had their fourth child, it was easier to let the boy have what he wanted, quite frankly they were exhausted. "Better?" he asked, brushing the stones off Ares' socks, before leaving open the door and returning to the front of the truck. He'd be shaded in there, and cool hopefully. "Also, we do have a new one," Aion said, turning his attention back to Demi and producing a small silver rotor from the pocket of his overalls, "but if I can fix it myself, we won't have to spend more money asking someone else to fix it for us." Another rule that Aion had told himself when he had children, was that he wanted to let them know his reasoning behind what he did, and how he felt, and give the information he gave them the human touch. "I find it satisfying to know that I can do something for myself. It means I don't have to rely on someone else. One day I might not be able to ask someone and I will need to know how to do something." he wanted his children to be independent, to be able to look after themselves. "It might be more convenient to pay someone else to fix it, and maybe I would have to if the circumstances were different, but as it happens at the moment there's no reason why I can't. Do you want to see?" he asked, waiting to make any further adjustments in case Demi wanted a demonstration about what he was about to do. Aion took the same stance with all four of his offspring; giving them the opportunities to discover things for themselves in a way where he could support them doing so.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a small pair of legs dangling out the side of the truck, and he figured Ares had already had enough of being outside. His attention span didn't last very long these days and it was sometimes difficult to get him involved with things that his sisters enjoyed doing. "Do you want to help me fix the rotor? It will stop the truck making that clicking noise when we're driving," Aion asked his son, watching him move around the edge of the door to stand beside him.

 

[Demi Zephyr]

Demi was watching her father careful as he explained why he didn't just want to buy a new rotor for the engine and she supposed it did mostly make sense. If they could save money it would mean they could buy another dog or a take away or something. "How did you figure out how to fix it though?" she asked, thinking that it probably wasn't something he'd learnt at school, and if he worked with animals he wouldn't have had the chance to find out. She spotted her little brother had already removed himself from his comfy seat and was walking on the stones again, and her eyes followed him to the front of the truck. Ares was annoying, but if he was going to watch then Demi wanted to too. She thought about putting out her arms for her father to lift her back down to the ground, but after hearing what he'd just said about one day she might not be able to ask someone for help, she thought that she should probably do it on her own instead. Turning her body to one side and leaning both hands on her right, she began to slowly slide off the side of the roof, unaware of how small she was compared to the truck until her feet were leaning on the window frame, her body half supported by her arms, half dangling off the door. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. "Help," she glanced over, hoping to be caught before her hands gave way from the roof, and she was quickly slipping.

 

[Ares Zephyr]

Ares actually like the click the truck made, so why would he want to fix it? He knew it was 57 clicks between his house and the food shop, and 231 clicks between his house and the medical center where they had to drop off some of the animals from time to time. "No," he said bluntly, putting his hands up on the side of the car and peering into the engine. It was grimy and dirty and looked complicated and boring. No wonder Demi was asking questions about it. "Can I have that?" he asked, looking at the silver metal thing in his dads hand, thinking he could probably find a few good places to wedge it into around the house. A small plea from his sister caused Ares to adjust his position, peering around the front of the truck to see Demi clinging onto the side of the door, and the youngest Zephyr started to laugh her. "She's gonna fall off!" he announced, ready to witness the whole thing.

 

[Aion Zephyr]

Aion was rolling the rotor around in his hand, eyes carefully watching Ares to make sure he didn't try to touch any of the components inside the hood again. He didn't want him to burn himself or get covered in any of the oil; Cyan would be less than pleased with Aion if Ares needed his third bath of the day. "You can't have this, we need it to fix the car, but there's probably something spare in the garage you can have once we've finished." Aion was determined to support his children in whatever they wanted to do, for all he knew, letting Ares play around with some spare parts would result in him inventing or discovering something entirely new. "I read about it," he replied truthfully to his daughter. Like most things Aion needed to know, he had to research it to find out. Their houses was stuffed full of a random assortment of books and journals, sometimes about the most peculiar subjects.

Aion looked up when he heard Demi calling for assistance, and dropping the rotor back into his pocket, the man calmly walked over towards his daughter until he was stood behind her and moving his hands under her arms but still inches away from her, not touching. She needed to be confident in herself, strong. To know that even if she were to fall she'd be able to get right back up. "You're okay, you're not that far from the ground." he said. Aion didn't want to her fall of course, but he didn't want her to be afraid to either. In truth she was tensed and curled up and had about half the distance again to the ground, but Aion wouldn't let her just drop. "Straighten your legs and you'll be almost there," he added calmly, not moving at all while Demi shifted her position, He could see that there was nothing between her feet and the ground that she'd get caught on, "Let go." It took a moment but she trusted his judgement, dropping the final foot or so back down to earth. "There you go," he gave his daughter a one armed squeeze, glad that she'd made it down entirely on her own. In truth Aion was the one who'd put her up there in the first place, so it was relieving to see that she was perfectly fine getting back down.

"See, she didn't need my help," he smiled to Ares, resuming his original position by the hood. It seemed as though Demi's lack of injury had bored Ares once again, as he'd already disengaged from their conversation and was beginning to kick some more stones around. "Here," he turned to give Demi the small rotor, wondering if she'd know where to put it.

 

[Demi Zephyr]

Demi just wanted her father to come and let her down so that she wouldn't fall and break her neck. It was painfully frustrating how slow he was walking towards her, given that her arms and hands were starting to burn from holding on. She tried not to wiggle and as Aion stood behind her, he thought he was just going to pick up her up. Demi began to grow impatient as her father instructed her to relax, elongating her body so that she might be able to touch the ground with her feet. As she let go of her hands, she did drop a small distance but it wasn't as far as she thought it was about to be. She'd been about to argue but her frustrations fell away as quickly as they'd begun, and she followed after her father. "Yes, I'll do it," she said with a confidence that could only come by a surge of adrenaline and a reputation to win back. Taking the small rotor in her hands, she ignored her brother and put all her thought into what she was about to do next. Unlike Aion, Demi hadn't read about this bit, and had no idea what she was even looking for. Her eyes darted between the shapes in the object she was holding, and the shapes available to her in the engine. She knew it was going to have to turn something, and that something else would have to fit inside the rotor, judging by the shape. She leant into the components of the car, twisting and moving the rotor a few different places before she finally found something she could slot it over. Except, how was it supposed to move or do anything if it was just sitting there? She peered up at her father, a frown slowly appearing on her face.