sixwordstories | (no subject)

I don't think most people attempt this! Or... anyone not on toddlers and tiaras anyway! *He's been practicing with his powers a lot by now and he feels safe enough to stop by here. He missed his family far too much to keep away for much longer*

But I saw pictures on the internet of the tiniest, cutest pink toes! People do this! [And Sam is convinced he needs to start learning how to do things a little girl might need him to do. Like painting toes. He doesn't even know what he'll do when she has hair that needs done. Sam is staring at her toes then glances at Smith.] They are impossibly small. You try.

Oh man, her whole leg is gonna end up pink! *He chuckles, then scoots in closer, taking the brush* Well, I've painted my nails a ton of times so maybe I can manage this....

Hey! I'm not that bad! [Just don't look at her big toe on her right foot, most of the end of her toe is pink.] How do you keep the polish from going everywhere!?

Well, you know, I don't kick around like a little baby! *he laughs* Okay, hold her foot and I'll move in!

How do people learn to do this!? [Sam carefully held her very tiny foot in his hand.]

Maybe with a microscope! *He leans in, sticking his tongue out one side of his mouth as he concentrates and tries to only get the polish on her tiny toe nail* Ah.... ah.... yes! I did one! *but it's kind of on the two sides of her nail as well, cause the brush is way bigger than her toes* I think we need that nail polish that they use for designs... the brushes on those are way smaller.

They have smaller brushes? We need that. Cause...[He made a face at Smith, still holding his daughters foot in his hand. Amelia is just laying there on the floor nomming on her balled up fist, happy as a clam.] We suck. She looks like she has some kind of infection or fungus. Glitter fungus.

*He laughs so hard at that* Well, I suppose if one has to have a fungus, it's better if it's a glitter one. *He sits there thinking for a moment* I wonder... Maybe we can cut this one. Like, shape it smaller for her toes. Do you have like, little nail scissors? I'll wipe the nail polish off the brush and then trim it.

Isn't it weird to look at baby feet and then your own feet and realize how small you once were? [Because Sam does think about those things a lot. How tiny she is and how much she'll grow. It's sort of fascinating.] There is a little black case in the top drawer of her changing table. Nail clippers and some little scissors.

It's hard to even imagine... I can't even imagine being this small. *he leans in and kisses her little foot, then hops up and goes to the changing table to find the scissors* Have you done that footprint thing with her yet?

What footprint thing?

Okay so when I was looking at baby stuff... *yeah, he looked at massive baby stuff when Amelia came home. He went pretty crazy with it and half his friends though it was weird but WHATEVER* I saw that some parents did this thing where they did little ink footprints from their babies. Like, each month, to see how much they've grown and it's just so cute and pretty. They have totally safe ink too, so it wouldn't harm her footsies.

Claire, who is babysitting this evening, has arrived early.

"Just like cutting a baby's nails, I think you should waiting until she is sleeping. Um...are you going to get her ears pierced too?"

[Sam drops the closed bottle of nail polish in his lap and throws his hands in the air.] Asleep! I didn't even think of that! They pierce their ears at this age?

That's a cute idea. I like that. [He laughed.] The only thing that would worry me about the ink is how this little monkey keeps stuffing her feet in her mouth.

Yep. I've seen babies with the tiniest little diamond chips in their ears.

[After hanging up her coat, she comes over to scrunch her nose at Amelia.]

Definitely though, wait for a nap, or else the two of you are just gonna get that everywhere.

That sounds pretty adorable. They don't pull on them?

[Sam smirks sheepishly at the one very messy toe he has managed to paint.]

I thought maybe I just needed a smaller brush.

*he chuckles* Yeah, she does like eating her own feet. It's non toxic though. But there are ways to wash it off easily too. I dunno, I can look into it more! *he comes back over and wipes the brush down, then starts trimming it* Does this look good?

Smaller brush couldn't hurt, huh sweetheart. Dad made an awful mess, didn't he? Pick one up from an art supply store. Then use a q-tip with Vaseline on the skin around the nail. That way if you get it on her it just wipes right off. There other tricks too, but maybe you should get the basics down first.

[Glances over at the polish with glitter in it.]

Um...and if you're going to use that, you should paint her nails with Elmer's glue first. Peals right off instead of having to wrap her toes in nasty stuff to get it off later.

You know, [eyeing his hands] you should try it on yourself first.

You are blowing my mind right now. [Sam looks at his hands and smirks.] Pink isn't really my color but alright. You seem to know what you are talking about.

That looks good, yeah. Maybe we should look this up online. Like tips and tricks or something?

[About to laugh at him.]

Do your toes then, but use a color so you can see the results. Clear is cheating. And that way if it turns out you hate the smell of polish remover you'll know before you try it on her.

[Wrinkling her nose at Amelia.]

Huh, funny baby. Peee-ew!

LIke... how to paint baby toenails? *he chuckles, then dips the brush back in the nail polish* You sure she wont eat this off her toes, too?

There are tutorials for everything online. Why not this? [Sam frowns at the bottle and shrugs.] She hasn't yet. Think we're okay.

[Laugh all you want. He's a little on the dorky side right now.]

Can you show me how? [Sam is determined to learn. He wants to be a dad that can paint toes if it is what his little girl wants. Not that at two and a half months old Amelia cares if her toes are painted, only if she can get them in her mouth.] Are there people who like the smell of polish remover? Is that a thing?

Okay, you go check, I'm gonna go for attempt number.... whatever this is. *he chuckles* I think my new brush construction might work.

I've got my phone. [Sam leaned back, still sitting next to Amelia on the floor and started to browse the web looking for help on how to paint toe nails. Yes, the first thing he looked for was how to paint tiny nails. While Smith gives it another try and Sam browses, he asks,] So you're here...that means things are going well?

*He leans in close to her toes and tries again* Things are going well, yeah. I haven't had any intense control issues. I have help, but that's good cause it's cut down on stress. I'm doing better than I thought I would. But I have to get better control. I can do better.

Nobody likes how it smells. I always try to do it outside as it kinda makes me lightheaded.

Anyway, you should start with a plain color, no glitter.

[Stepping away she roots through her backpack set near the door and brings out a bottle of pale pink, the same color that's on her nails.]

Here, I'll watch her, you go get the Vaseline and few Q-tips.

Who is helping you? [Sam worries about the kind of help Smith might be getting. He's talked to Matt recently and as much as he loves him, Sam worries that Matt's brand of help might be a bit more than Smith needs.] Maybe the better question is how are they helping you?

[Sam blows a kiss against Amelia's neck that gets a squeal and her happily kicking her legs. That's probably Sam's favorite thing in the world, the way she flails her legs when she is excited. Runner up is how she noisily noms on her balled up fist. Hopping up off the floor he trots off to the bathroom to round up the needed items. He's back pretty quickly.]

This is just one of those practice makes perfect kind of things isn't it?

[Sitting down he tugs up the legs of his pants and wiggles his toes as he looks down at them.]

Who started this toe painting thing anyway?

I'm not sure if I mentioned him or not. He's a friend of mine, John. He has an ability too, and he studied at one of those schools for kids with powers. He's sort of my roommate, but he does his own thing a lot. He comes by to teach me. . He's helping me practice, do exercises, get better control. I need to step it up, though. I can't slack off with any of this. *He's gotten his fair share of lectures from quite a few people already and he thought he was doing alright, but now he's not so sure. He's starting to really resent having these stupid abilities*

The school we went to? [Sam pauses and pinches the corner of his lip between his teeth. He doesn't want to come off like he's pushing Smith away but he's very concerned about the help he is getting here in the city.] Have you thought more about going to that school? If it's a money thing that is stopping you or whatever we can figure it out. I'm sure we could figure out a way to have you still work for Mark remotely or something. You could take calls and answer emails from there, right? We could come see you. Maybe stay nearby for a bit so you have some friends close.

[Grinning saucily.]

You did, 'parrently.

[Next he was going want to know about henna painting, if she wasn't careful.]

Okay. Nails are clean, trimmed, and for her you're not going to worry about the cuticle.

[Opening the container the tip of the cotton was dipped in the jelly.]

Take this and go around your toenail, so if you accidentally get some polish on your skin or cuticles, it'll just wash right off. And that way you won't have a sloppy gloppy mess to clean up.

[Sam laughed and shook his head.]

I mean who sat down, looked at their funky toes for the first time and thought, this situation would be better if my nails were colored. How did it become a thing that people do?

[He was one of those people that was interested in just about everything. And about learning. He'll be looking this up later. Armed with a Q-tip he does as he is instructed and goes around the edges of his toenails with the jelly.]

Which part is the cuticle?

It's not a money thing, no. That was like, plan B, in case the help I was getting now wasn't working. But... I mean... I think its working. But I'm like, not the expert on this, or anything like that.

You think I should go to the school? Maybe it would save everyone a whole lot of trouble.

Whoa. Back up. First of all, you aren't causing anyone any trouble. I think you should go where you can get the right help for you. Where ever that is.

I think I might be. I think some people don't have faith that I'll be able to do this and it's hard for me to keep my faith in the middle of that. But I'm trying. I'm trying really hard. And... yeah, if that's the best kind of help, I'll go there.

Smith, if your faith in yourself is being shaken because of who you are surrounded by, yes, I think you need to go to the school or somewhere to get away from that.

*He nods slowly, running his fingers along the sides of Amelia's feet* Then I should probably go. Because I know that it's going to weigh on me more and more. Each criticism without a solution or a way to make it better.... it doesn't help me, it just hurts me.

Don't know. I'm younger that you.

[Nearly sticks out her tongue.]

We could look it up later to find out the history. Probably started with staining,

Anyway...cuticle, should'a started with that. It's this bit of skin on top of the nail, where it ducks under your fing- err toe. It stretches over the nail to protect it.

[Taking a clean q-tip she demonstrates on her unpainted toes.]

I just take a clean q-tip and push it back to the skin, so it's not covering the nail. You have to be gentle to not tear it, if you never done it before, because that can hurt and it can catches on clothes and other things.

You know, [making a funny face at Amelia] it's a good thing you still have short hair, or your Daddy'd be wanting to learn to braid next.

And getting hurt is no way for you to get through this or accomplish the things you need to accomplish.

We have to look it up now. I'm too curious to ignore it.

[Sam smirks and chuckles.] Well eventually I'm going to have to worry about the hair thing!

[Claire rolls her eyes.]

Look, paint your toes first and we'll look it up while the first thin layer dries. Yes, jus' like painting a room, you're gonna do it more than once. Thin layers dry faster than real thick ones and looks better in the end.

I thought I had a good plan going for me. I really did this time. I dunno.