#bergen_county

"UP." She hefts the toddler for Airplane. Airplane is, of course, Important.

"I think she likes you, honey," Her dad says as he continues to show Valr the puppet

"Well, it's a chickadee. Pigeons and chickadees are natural allies."

The big boy laughs at the puppet show, and Her dad says "now remember, these are someone else's kids so we can't strap them to large kites or shoot them down stair way banisters. Not everyone is a Novak."

"What if I got kneepads and a helmet?"

"Sadly, still no," He shakes his head, "I learned this when I took my best friend's kid bowling.... got told never again, which is a shame because that little guy's limbs meant he could get more of the pins knocked over than any old ball."

Amity giggles.

Her father smiles and winks. The toddlers each laugh too, maybe it's contagious? Then her dad says "Amity honey, I'm told you're making friends... little puppy boy by the lake and that redcap girl? Is that right?"

A flash of a sulk, but then she shrugs and smiles.

He notices the flash and says with concern, "Oh now, hey. Did I say something wrong to worry you hun?"

"No?"

"Well," He ponders as he has the godzilla puppet and the King Kong puppet dance swan lake (You have to read into it a bit) for the kdis, "I was going to say I think it's great you're making friends but if your friends are making you sad then it's okay to seek out different friends. " he knows his daughter is a people pleaser, and while he is tempted to say 'I just want you to be happy' he realizes she might slap on a smile to accommodate, so instead he says "You can always talk to me when and if you're ready, okay? We're your pit crew."

"What if..." She frowns and shakes her head. "Briar's not nice, and neither is Connor."

"So they're nice," He says "And there's a what if hanging in the air." He looks around "tell me more."

She wraps her arms around her torso and shrugs again.

Her father takes a moment to give her a hug. Then whispers "You are trapped between two kaiju."

"Kaiju smash houses." She whispers, close to a confession.

"Oh," He nods, "Yes, I suppose they do sometimes. Houses aren't people, but they're still precious aren't they? So many memories. It's okay to be still sad about that. It's actually pretty healthy to grieve. That said," He loosens his hug and takes off the make shift puppets he made , "I imagine a little girl might want to have some payback for the Kaiju . Would you like to have these two to do whatever you want with them?" He offers them up. "No judgement."

"Do we still have blocks?"

"Yes, we do, lego and Lincoln logs and ..well dominos too though I'm not sure those are what your'e looking for."

The Lincoln Logs are new, but it turns out wood crafting is big with trolls around here and that Nice Tove Lady gave some to the household when she dropped by to meet Mr. and Mrs. Novak. Apparently a certain pooka made a delighted impression on her.

"We could build a skyscraper?"

"Okay, which one? What style? Like the Empire state building? Or that tower in Die Hard?"

"Tall. For kaiju."

"Tall, Okay... like, Troll tall, or dad tall, or Amity Tall?" He smiles.

"Because we may run out of blocks for Troll tall" He confesses.

"We could do an experiment!"

"Your mother would like that, but we're baby sitting so first rule, no using the toddlers as sample studies." He asserts.

"I don't think that's in the contract." She dumps out the blocks, distributing some to each toddler.

"Well, we'll see," he yields a bit. The kids quickly each grab a block intrigued. Valr might try to eat his...

Amity works on building a tall tower - possibly haphazard, but it needs to be stable enough for at least a little while.

And, once the tower is tall enough, Amity urges the twins to their feet. "Kaiju!"

They get to their feet, "Kju" "Kiiij" they say helpfully and sure enough start to amble forward

Mr. Novak says "Oh my."

Amity can do a VERY respectable Godzilla cry as she helps knock down the structures.

It would appear Franki is a natural at this.... and her brother catches on quick as they storm and tear down the structures. Karel speaks "Ace news reporter here, as Kaiju are attacking the city and this after the government cut funding for local Battle Mech defense systems, oh calamity!"

The little ones are soon having a blast, laughing and shrieking.

Amity is having a good enough time, too, laughing right alongside the kiddos.

Her father lets her take the lead. Kids are tough, he reminds himself, and hopes that is daughter is doing this as form of her own therapy. He'll be here if she needs more.

(Fade or pause as wished)