Xaviers!

Promenade Park bordered the river Blackwater, it's shores long stretches of mud upon which boats rested during low tides. The most prominent feature of the Edwardian urban park was the large man made lake it encompassed, upon which several children were sailing about in pedalos. Others played in the nearby splash park or on a large wooden jungle gym shaped like a masted schooner. All in all it seemed like the average city park; people were walking their dogs and passing others having picnics in the grassy fields.

"... dang, I shoulda got a picnic basket ready. I guess I'll know for next time."

"It's fine. I've eaten. " She replied, seemingly people watching as they strolled.

"Besides, I usually do the cooking. At this age, you're contented with cup noodles and pizza rolls.

Or Taco Bell."

"Yes but we're in England now. And when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Kebabs and curry, meat pies and mushy peas.

"The cup noodles stay though. That's universal."

"I hate peas." She observed out loud, watching a little girl play.

"Fine, you can give me your portion then from now on." Victor had, traditionally, never been too fond of them either. He slowed his walk a bit to stop and watch some of the kids playing, following Emilie's gaze.

"The best part of working at the Dairy Queen back home was getting to talk to kids and watch them play, even if just a little bit. You're not allowed to just talk to kids today, everyone assumes you're a predator or something."

"That's what he liked most about Freddie. He could exist in Wonderland just a little bit longer. 'Til she was 'too old to play anymore'." She observed out loud.

Victor turned to look at Emilie. "S'at a reference to somethin'?"

Emilie looked at Victor for a moment before letting it pass.

"Nevermind. Let's have a look at these goats of yours."

Victor walked with Emilie past the children's waterpark area, to where the small zoo was kept with a modest array of birds, reptiles, and other creatures. For the both of them the entrance fee was just under 8 quid, pocket change Victor had enough of to part with.

"Would you have been so eager to come if I'd said let's go pet some pigs, or turtles?"

"No. Pigs aren't cute and turtles carry samonella."

"Whaaaat? What about piglets?"

"Well yea but baby anything is adorable. "

"Well come on, do you really think they'd let little kids around adult pigs?" Victor smirked, taking his time to look at some of the colourful parrots along the way.

The petting zoo had the usual assortment of animals, there were indeed piglets and turtles, as well as some sheep and calves. The alpaca in it's own pen seemed to be the star of the show and quite popular with the children in attendance. But amongst all of those was a grass-lined enclosure with a handful of pygmy goats who were amusing themselves by butting each other or climbing over the various play structures that littered the ground.

"Eeeeeeee!" She squealed excitedly in a fashion Victor had never heard before, ignoring everything around her in favour of goats.

She was down on the ground with them in the blink of an eye, her shield going up so she could engage in rough housing with the little jerks.

Victor leaned on the fence while he watched Emilie play with the goats, and goats doing what goats do. Butting her, climbing on and around her, forgetting about her entirely to go do their own thing, the usual shenanigans.

For her part, Emilie played back with the goats much like they played with each other. Climbing up and down things and jumping off from them, prancing about... She even put her head down and let them butt into her own, her force field keeping her protected from any real damage.

She seemed contented to go on like that forever if Victor left her to her own devices.

Victor was enjoying just watching Emilie have a good time. He'd never expected her to be so enthusiastic about goats. Eventually he climbed into the pen as well and sat down in the straw, letting a few straggling goats approach at their own leisure for pets and scratches.

It took a bit to tucker them all out but eventually, Emilie collapsed onto her side, exhausted from play. The goats she had been playing with too seemed inclined to rest, though one of them still had enough energy to scale her and was standing on her hip triumphantly as she laid on the ground.

Covered in the dust of the petting zoo and errant bits of straw, Emilie seemed happy, for once. When a little goat curled up next to her for a nap, she reached out to hug it closer to her.

The pair had gotten some stares from parents taking their kids through the petting zoo, but their bogarting of the goat section was tolerated for the most part, probably because they were leaving the alpaca and lambs alone. There may have been one or two heavy sighs expressed by a Karen, but otherwise it had been a relatively peaceful time. Victor eventually scooted closer, his suit no better off than Emilie's clothes when it came to dust and straw, which was probably going to look comical to strangers on the trip home.

"So, what's so special about goats?"

"Nothing really.

We had goats on the farm, and I like them. I miss not having them around. They're fun. They like to run and scrap and get dirty, which are all things I like to do. Also, they're just a bit different from a lot of other things, which is also a bit like me I suppose...." She trailed off.

"Is that... one of my farms? Or a different farm?" Victor asked as he looked up, noticing that things seemed to be winding down. "Actually, maybe we should find a park bench or something, and you can tell me all about it."

"The last farm." She clarified. "With Freddie."

She got up and dusted herself off... sort of. She did walk with Victor. " What do you want to know?"

There was that name again. Victor thought hard about it, but it took him awhile before he remembered. No wonder he hadn't gotten it the first time, it wasn't his memory so it'd been filed away with the snippets of dreams and imagination that came back on rare occasions. He climbed out of the pen, not bothering to clean himself off anymore. Most of the children from earlier in the day were gone, stranglers being coaxed into coming with their parents and guardians with promises of getting something to eat, or that someone would be getting very cross.

"Well, just what it was like. What you liked about it. Maybe if I was a good... person." It didn't take long to find a park bench, not far from a statue of what looked like some kind of viking or something, wielding a sword and shield. There were plenty to choose from, the tide was out which left most boats sitting on their keels in the muddy river bottom, some of the smaller ones leaning rather haphazardly to one side. Victor took a seat and looked out at a scene not at all like those he grew up with.

"Would you be disappointed if we didn't go back home for the summer?"

Emilie made herself comfortable next to him, and pulled out her vape pen for a nicotine fix. She got the indication this was going to be a rough conversation.

"It was the farm. It's always been more or less the same. Maybe different animals or crops or what have you, but not all that different from the way you remember it.

I actually hate the farm, which I guess answers your last question. I stayed because I needed to. And because Freddie needed me...

As far as if the last Victor Freud was a good person.... His wife died and instead of giving up the child that credibly could have been blamed for her death, he raised it without her and kept her in a place that was safe for her, until he couldn't anymore.

But he's not you, as you are so ready to remind me. There have been infinite Freuds, and not all of them are good people."

Victor listened, letting Emilie vent and explain herself.

"Well, then we're not going back this summer, easy peasy. And if for some reason I do have to go back, maybe you can stay somewhere in Toronto, or Timmins. But honestly I'd rather not go back either. At least not yet."

Victor thought about what Emilie said. "It sounds like he was a good father, even if he might not have been the best person... good for him."

"What makes you think he was a bad person?"

"You didn't just say yes." Simple logic. He held out his hand for Em's vape.

Emilie handed over the pen willingly. There was not in fact, anything sketchy inside. Just a regular old nicotine cartridge in a black cherry tobacco flavor, making it taste wise more akin to a pipe than a cigarette.

She seemed to have to furrow her brow to determine how she wanted to word the next bit.

"I don't think he was a good person, or a bad person.

I think he was a noble person with a big heart that he wore on his sleeve- which is the worst place to wear it. And I think that he was stuck in a shitty situation that he had to make the most of."

Victor seemed to treat it like pipe tobacco at first, handing the pen back to Emilie as he rolled the vapor around in his mouth before inhaling.

"Sounds like a pretty decent guy to me." His voice was a little horse. "... I dunno if I'm ever going to get used to that thing."

"He was..."

"You shouldn't." She replied in response to smoking.

" it's terrible for you. Any Freud will tell you." She joked.

"Oh absolutely. But you never know when you'll need to be able to rip that cotton." He raised his hand in a three-fingered salute. "Be prepared."

"Oh? Is that why you decided to finally follow through on that whole 'seeing where this goes' idea?" Emilie asked as vapor billowed out of her lungs around a Mona Lisa smile.

"Hoping I can show you all the big boy things like how to smoke, and handle your liquor and how to not lose your cool in front of girls?"

"Not so much 'see where this goes', as 'see if I do it right this time'."

"Are you suggesting you're doing this out of sympathy for me then?" She asked, looking mildly annoyed.

"Because I don't need pity fucks from a Freud."

"No, not out of sympathy. I don't do pity-fucks. But you're a cool dude, and relationships are based on friendship, and I'm willing to give it a shot. Maybe a relationship isn't the answer to this weird ass question, but maybe by trying we find what is the answer. Or maybe we don't find the answer and just be happy together. Or maybe it doesn't work out and we just become close friends. Going on a date should be about getting to know a person and connecting with them, not just a first step on a to-do list."

Emilie was studying Victor not unlike a cat observes prey before it pounces. There were definitely thoughts bouncing back and forth in her mind from one end to another.

"Well, you're at least considering the idea so I guess you're doing better on that front already.

What are we doing this summer if we're not going home?"

"Well, if I take classes this summer and the next, that's a Bachelor's degree in 3 years instead of 4. It's not like I could come into town here and get a job or something instead." Apparently he didn't think he needed to address that first part.

Emilie stared at him for several moments. "You remind me more of the Freud before the previous." She commented.

"Why, did he do things for selfish reasons too?"

"He was a professor.


Soooo, a nerd." She joked.