the new home tour...plus one!

[rockysmash]

"Okay, and blah blah blah, 'grandma of death,' blah blah blah..."

Rocky stepped back from the back door, trying to get the shots he wanted for his new home tour video. Yes, he and Ellie had been in the house for about nine months now, but he hadn't done a home tour since the start of his channel, and fans had been asking.

Only then did he realize he had a great segue into showing the space he kept his altar in. Snapping his fingers, he finished his shot and dashed back to his office to reshoot the setup so he could end on his altar, which was set up on a small bookshelf just beyond his desk...

...and, as was a common occurrence, even back at the apartment, Ellie was in the office, peering at his cameras and lights and computer with keen interest.

"Hey there, cublet." he grinned, shutting off his camera for the moment and dashing over to take a knee and wrap her in a hug from behind. Even though she was far more comfortable with affection these days, he still telegraphed his actions any time he came at her from behind. "How's the cutest member of the pack, hmm? Something you need, or you just curious about the cameras again? And no, you cannot take Daddy's cameras apart. That's why I bought you your own."

Comments

[upsidedowns]

In nine months, a lot changed. Rock found enough information on her and called in enough favors to actually legally adopt her, for starters, so that meant now El had a family. A pack, as Rock called it, and she even tried her hand at school.

Which hadn't gone so amazingly so they set her up with an online school program, and that was going loads better.

And Eleven herself had gotten taller, bolder and happier in her actions and a vocabulary that expanded more every day. She'd filled out, no longer the skinny waif, and her hair hung almost past her shoulders after a refusal to cut it beyond a very careful trim.

But what her dad did for a living still brought her a significant amount of curiosity, so any time she could, she found herself investigating everything in Rocks office.

With her own camera in her hand, and probably the first time she actually turned it on, she grins at the hug and holds up the camera, pointing it at her dad's face.

"I wanna know what we are recording and I want to help."

[rockysmash]

Rocky swore, once he realized parenthood had stumbled its way into his life, that he'd never be a cliche kind of dad...only now, his little girl was showing an interest in his job, and he had to take a second to sort of fight back the sudden swell of pride that clogged in his throat.

He covered it by nuzzling her temple, which he did instead of kissing her like a father would. When he was sure he wouldn't embarrass himself by welling up or squealing, he drew back with a grin and a decisive little nod.

"Okay, then! You can help me get some footage, and I'll edit some of your stuff into my afternoon video...or, if you want, I can help you edit your own! Then we can set up a Youtube account that's just for you. Would you like that? Do what I do in your own space on the internet?"

[upsidedowns]

El leans into the nuzzle, grinning at the attention. It wasn't something she'd had a lot of until Mike and the party and even then it had been a three person hug, a quick kiss and then she ended up in Nevada. So she loves every minute of affection she gets from people she trusts.

"Can you teach me how to edit while you edit my stuff into yours?" And then she goes silent, really thinking about the last question. Her eyebrows furrow, weighing the pros and cons before shaking her head.

"No. I just want to stay on yours and show up there sometimes." She's not quite used to cameras being on her for fun just yet, so it may be a while.

[rockysmash]

Rocky smiles at her fondly, bumping his nose against her temple again before he playfully pretends to bite her ear.

"Sure thing, cub." He reassures her, giving her wavy mop of hair an affectionate tousle. "But maybe we'll see if we can make you a YouTube account anyway. Not to put videos on, but so you can just watch videos. You can even leave comments on mine that way...and, if you ever change your mind, we'll just press a few buttons and you can make your own channel."

With a grin, he gets to his feet and gestures to his altar across the room, decorated with lunar and death imagery, as well as incense, an athame, a bowl of food left as the day's offering, and at least one bowl filled with several types of grave dirt.

"Right now I'm filming places in the house so the people who watch my channel can have a tour of our home. I wrote a bunch of jokes I'm gonna record to be a voice over on the footage--I'll show you how I do that when we edit. Do you want to take some shots of the altar for me? The Goddess will probably like it better if you do it, She's got a soft spot for strong little girls."

[upsidedowns]

"No! Not my ear!" That'd be El playing along, trying to lean away from her dad and pretending to push his face away. It was all in fun, and she was glad she was learning how to be that big a goof. This was major for her.

She follows him to his altar, staying a respectable distance away as she listened to Rock before nodding.

"Are you going to teach people the right way to leave a room?" she asks, having seen a couple of his other New Place videos before turning her video to the altar and pressing record.

[rockysmash]

Rocky grinned, something in the back of his chest loosening when she playfully tried to squirm away from his playful nipping. It's a sign that she's still healing, and it reassures him that he's not getting in the way of that--that he's doing right by his little girl.

His little girl now, legally and truly...he never thought anything would give him so much joy.

The question makes him smile--and blush a little at letting her ever have seen that video--but he answers gamely as he turns his own camera on her discreetly, taking some footage of her filming the altar just for himself. He's snuck footage of her a couple times before, all sitting in a 'home movies' folder on his hard drive...with an audience of three, because he has a standing demand from his father to get emails with those videos for him, his mother, and Rachel to see.

"I don't know." he muses. "I think pelvic thrusting and reverse gyration aren't as funny as they used to be...maybe we'll have to come up with a new way to leave a bathroom."

He shifts to kneel just behind her with a little smile, still filming.

"You know, you can get closer if you want a better angle. They won't mind." he reassures her. "You can even make an offering if you want. Put some food in the offering bowl, ask someone for a favor,a and then they'll try to make it happen for you. Wanna give it a try? Or do you just want to say hi to them while you film their altar?"

[upsidedowns]

Eleven watches her father (HER FATHER!) very carefully, a slow tilt of her head as she listens and just takes in what he's doing. She's used to it and isn't at the same time. Really, the first few weeks with him were rough any time he pointed a camera at him. She didn't like cameras on her, waiting to see what she'd do. There may or may not be a small group of telekinetically damaged cameras in their history until El finally explained why.

Papa used cameras to film her using her powers. Papa was also a dick. So El didn't have the best associations with cameras until she actually stopped and thought about it.

Rock was doing everything in his power to keep her safe, so she had no reason to react the way she did. So she tried, really hard, to just be okay with cameras.

"I may have something." She definitely has something, but it's easier shown than described. She heads to the doorway, standing just inside it before doing a small I'm out, peace! style spin with a faint rub of the side of her nose with her thumb and possibly some swagger down the hall.

It's a minute or so before she cautiously peeks around the corner, eyebrows raised. Was that good? She takes a second to consider his question, looking from him to the altar and then back.

"I want to offer food and ask for a favor." She's been wanting to do this for a while.

[rockysmash]

The sassy little swish out the door promptly has Rocky in stitches, doubling over with his deep, manic giggling when she peeks back in. It takes him a second, but he nods and motions for her to come back in.

"Oh, that's definitely going in the video." he laughs, pulling her in to kiss her cheek. "Matter of fact? I'm gonna feature it...but first we'll make an offering to the Goddess. Go in my bottom desk drawer, there's a bag of popcorn and another bag of Swedish Fish. We'll both make an offering...I use images of Yemaya in my altar, and she likes fish of all kinds. She'll like that offering from you, I'll give popcorn to Papa Legba."

[upsidedowns]

El's smile almost matches Rocky's, almost goes ear to ear. It was a big smile for her and it was obvious she was kind of proud of herself. When he mentions they're featuring her spin, she nods once. She could be okay with that.

"How?" she asks as she heads to the desk to get the food Rock mentioned. "How are we gonna feature the spin?"

[rockysmash]

"We're gonna do a skit." he explains as she heads for his desk. "We'll reshoot a couple things with me knocking into stuff, and you in the background facepalming. We'll finish by shooting in the bathroom, and I'll pretend to hurt myself slamming into the wall while I pelvic thrust--just pretend, I promise--then you'll walk in behind me and pretend to be fed up with your big doofy dad bonking around, and show me your way to leave a bathroom. I'll even write the voice over at the end so you get a couple lines, and we'll close the video together, with you teaching me to do that."

Once she brings the food over, Rocky takes the popcorn from her and stops recording, setting his camera down. Taking El's hand, he led her over to the altar, standing beside her right in front of it.

"Now watch me, okay? You just do the same thing, but change all the words so they fit you, and the Goddess." he instructed. Turning to the altar, he lit the candle there, then picked up a stick of incense and used the candle to light it.

"Fire to Air...and air to Earth." he murmured, making sure El could hear him as he held the incense up for a second, letting it burn so a little ash formed at the end. Dipping his fingers in a cup of water on the altar, he flicked a couple drops at the burning candle, which sputtered but didn't go out.

"And Water to join them." he continued. He slid a look at El, smiling. "That part you don't have to do, now that I've done it. But before prayer, you should always call on the four corners--the elements--so the gods will listen. This part's for you."

Opening his bag of popcorn, he took a small handful out, then kissed the fist that held it before placing it in the offering bowl on the altar. As he did, he prayed quietly in French before repeating it in English so she could understand.

"I call on you with the New Names, Ancient Father. Papa Legba, dine here, and for my offering, I pray my needs be filled."

Bringing both hands to rest over his heart, he bowed his head for a moment, eyes shut as he spoke his desire in the silence of his own mind and heart.

Let me be a good father to this little girl. Please, Father of Death, don't let me fail her.

Opening his eyes, he kissed the fingers of one hand, then reached out to touch the base of the little skeletal statue that sat there to represent the God of Death before he smiled down at El.

"Then you say what you're asking for--not out loud, but in your heart." Leaning down, he picked up El just so she was level with the altar and could reach for the offering bowl and the painted image of the Goddess without fear of knocking anything around.

"Now you try. Put your offering in the same bowl, just ask the Goddess instead of the God." he instructed gently. "Then I'll show you how to disperse the four corners, okay?"