erich loathed new york city. on its best day he refused to play shows there. on its worst,he purposely went to new jersey. he was actually ok with the rest of the state,it was only new york city he hated. he owned a dilapidated victorian upstate. it would never be lived in because he was too lazy to do the work to repair it and his current girlfriend was too sensible to set foot in it. but he did sometimes spend time at her house. the house in question was closer than he liked to people and the other neighbors hated how his car rattled their windows and set of their car alarms. a spitfire sources rolls royce merlin engine would do that. he figured he had to fit the part,so a rat rodded 59 rolls royce was his choice for tearing around here. but that was not the case today. today he was in new york city proper and was in a cab. today he was meeting his daughter...and her mother. ada had asked erich to be sober for this venture and he obliged. he had actually stopped everything a few days after that conversation. while his habits werent of addictive substances,they had become more of a crutch than he realized. the cab slowed to a stop in front of the park that was across the street from where he had once lived with his once wife. erich shoved a hundred dollar bill at the driver and got out. he didnt care how much the fare was,he just knew he needed to get through this as easily as possible. he wasnt sure what to wear for such an occasion,so he stepped into the park wearing his black suit with red pinstripes. did one dress up for meeting their offspring? he felt maybe he should. even if it was hot as balls and the suit made him look like the devil trying to scam people for their souls in three card monty. he looked for ada,hoping she had stood him up. being cordial over twitter was one thing. face to face was something entirely different.

sobriety was not all it was cracked up to be. the world at large seemed to lose its oneness without lsd,mescaline,psilocybin ,or even dxm to filter reality through. it had been near 15 years or so since erich was sober for any length of time. it was the least he could do meet his true offspring with a clear mind. he hated being this way,he felt he was letting people down/ it was his daughter,sure. but who wanted erich hess the man,when they could have erich hess the character? in his thoughts,he scoured the many children running around .even in new york,pink haired children were rare. thanks to instagram,he had had an idea of what to look for for,but he didnt see her.the bitter part of him nagged that ada wasnt going to show,just to make him look foolish again. but the sensible part of his mind told him to wait. she would be along soon.

in a sea of mothers calling for dakota,christy,jonathan,luna,and abigail,erich heard a familiar voice calling for a marlena.he looks over and sees one small head of pink hair bouncing towards the swings and another approaching him. ada looked far different than he remembered,but who knows? maybe she always looked this way and he just didnt perceive it. "swings are forever,parents dont last all that long." erich says while looking at the small girl thoroughly enjoying herself on the swings. she seems slightly younger than erica's daughter. so erich is roughly aware of what kids that age are like. "miss ada von wannemaker,i presume?" erich asks with a slight bow. he had played this scenario over and over in his head many times. yet seeing ada again didnt really feel like any of those imaginary scenes. he didnt feel old lust,anger,or even sadness. it felt awkward and he wanted to run away. hallucinogens may make reality more intense,but they do a good job insulating one from reality as well.

erich watches marlena on the swings for a moment. it is strange to think that being is half of himself. what was her favorite color? did she hate cauliflower like he did? on a physical level,she looked 100% ada. which he imagined must be good for the child. nobody wants to look at a kid and see the spitting image of their ex. "dont be." erich says before looking at ada and tucking his un pomaded'd hair behind his ears. he was conflicted. his own father was a cruel man,dustyn's real father was shit. he mainly thought about dustyn's point that just worrying about marlena was a good start. that he could have dealt with. being with ada one on one was not what he was expecting."nah. i need to get used to this. for marlena's sake." he states,desperately wanting a nip of the flask in his pocket. but sober meant sober. today erich wouldnt even take so much as an aspirin."i just expected an awkard conversation with a child first,then i could work on the awkard small talk with you." erich laughs nervously. " i told you i would be here and be here i shall. it's just different..you know,seeing you as opposed to a name on a phone screen." he says softly,keeping his eyes on marlena. without his protective layer of chemicals,erich was a rather nervous and meek individual.

erich holds his hands together and nods slightly before looking over to ada. "yeah..its good to see you too. it's just weird,you know? i never thought i'd ever be in this park again with you. its a total..yeah." he tells her with a bittersweet smile. he looked up and could see the building they used to live in. he briefly wondered if ada still lived in the same building,but refrained from asking. it seemed far to personal and prying. when ada offers to call marlena over,erich wants to stop her but doesnt. it was too late anyway,the words had already passed the woman's lips and were out in the open. in seconds,the little girl had bounded up to them and was speaking. for the briefest of moments erich looked over marlena. she carried the air of a very free spirit about her and that tickled erich to no end. he looks to ada before looking back to marlena to greet her. "hello,marlena. swings are the just the greatest,right? " erich asks the little person. he didnt want it to seem like he knew her or was trying to force something that wasnt there. every one likes swings. in his head,he couldnt help buy compare her to the other child that was biologically his, eris summers. eris was a rather serious child,even at her young age. its only fitting that if karoliena was compared to morticia,her daughter should be compared to wednesday. erich determined he must have weak genes. neither child looked like him.

"that's the word!" erich chuckles at the sailor mouth of ada. the unexpected swear did help break the ice some. he had felt pressured to be on his best behavior. the fact they didnt just pick up where they left off had thrown him. it seemed like they would given their eventual warming over twitter. erich also looks up at what was a lifetime ago and strangely couldnt remember much about the real day to day life of his marriage. "i wonder who lives there now?" he asks with a smirk. he had it pictured some bootleg version of he and ada lived there now.maybe this would get easier after getting some words going. there was still the whole thing she wouldnt tell him over the internet. what had her life been since the split?

"i'll keep an eye on your swing. " erich says with a wink and picks up a discarded bottle to heft at any one trying to muscle in on marlena's territory. speaking to her was far easier than speaking to ada. the child probably had no preconceived notion of what he was or should be. "yes. yes,i am." erich says smiling a small smile at the girl. he felt like a crooked televangelist by keeping the secret from marlena. but maybe it was for the best " i've known your mother for quite at time. she was my best friend for a long time." erich says warmly. he wasnt sure where to take it from there,but he'd figure that out later.

: I'm thinking a small cat and a fat kid." Erich smirks. " and furry. They take the poor child to circus sideshows on the weekend. Dietrich the furry and rotund kid has a hell of a time. Which is ok because he's a mean little thing." Erich further muses. He indeed had this scenario worked out in his head. He sighs and notices its getting easier to talk to Ada. Which was starting to scare him. While he ,to this day, defends her when Karoliena speaks ill of her...it was far better to see Ada as a caricature. Not that he saw himself as a saint in The relationship. He accepted his share of the blame too. He couldn't have been easy to live with. He vividly recalled the time he made a calzone for Ada. If anything,Marlena was made out of love. "Seems like a god da-.. Eternity ago,huh?" He says to Ada as much as himself. He wasn't going to take language liberties around Marlena. Ada had that right as she was very much the parent.

Erich kept an eye on the swing,praying to any deity that would listen to keep that swing clear. A sober erich would never throw a bottle at a child. Normal Erich would at least consider it. At Marlena's words,that only a child could deliver so innocently biting,looked over at the very red and probably pained Ada. Erich felt horrible as he definitely caused that. At one time he may have wanted to see Ada feel as low as possible, but not any more. For all he knew,she had lows even lower than his. " Well,she's new in town,Marlena. Once people get to know her,she'll have all sorts of friends. " He says warmly. He wanted to add that he was her mother's friend again, but he didn't want to make promises that a future conversation could break.

Erich didn't know how much he missed Ada's laugh until that moment. It was such an expression of sheer enjoyment. It had been so easy to love her all that time ago. Erich met Ada's gaze briefly before breaking contact. What was the appropriate amount of eye contact for an ex wife? Erica didn't count as that was just a long way to go to silly joke. He wasn't sure and didnt want to overstay an eyeball's welcome. The furry chubby kid wasn't going to save him from the conversation that was looming. " surprisingly not too much has happened on my end. Well,to me personally. " erich says,almost embarrassed his life really hasn't changed since Ada left, he just merely slipped back into his old life...after a period of mourning for the failed relationship.

"I might be able to bring a friend for you too." Erich tells Marlena. Gretchen had already pledged to be Ada's advocate...much to the irritation of Karoliena. He was sure Gretchen was already prepping takara to meet this far flung part of her past. Marlena was adorable in her parroting of Ada . he disliked rotten kids,but had a soft spot for spirited ones like Marlena seemed to be."Yeah. You probably better get back to the swings. We don't want Dietrich waddling down here and taking your spot." Erich warns with a chuckle. He imagined Dietrich looking like short,squat ,bug eyed individual who wore one of those propeller beanies like in old cartoons. "Is she...um,home schooled?" Erich asks carefully. There were territorial lines he was certain that existed,so asking personal things could be a minefield.

erich pushes his hair behind his ears for the umpteenth time today. there is much to be said for pomade keeping it in place. it makes all the destroyed pillow cases worth it . his naked hair felt too floaty in the breeze. or being new york,it was just puffs of car exhaust,people's breath and farts moving his hair. "erica? oh she is doing...perfect." erich says with a smile. his friend had had a hell of a time for many years,but seemed to finally have everything together. " she,takara,and gretchen.i do believe you've already met her. um,they live in Belgium now. huge castle. they have quote unquote staff . some crazy person had been secretly living in their house in japan. eventually the woman attacked erica. tore her up,but good. like thrown through a glass shower door. so gretchen and karoliena pretty much forced erica to move to the castle. karoliena and cassie are still together. no more kids." erich has to laugh a bit at this. the summers women were well on their way to having a sitcom level amount of kids with the 4 they had. they live in the big castle on the estate. some family thing of karoliena's going back generations. i got a spiffy guillotine out of the deal though. nina is doing well too. she is back in the fold after living in korea for a bit. mariko is arguably the most successful out of all of us now." erich laughs and looks thoughtful,trying to remember if he left anyone out. he knew that karoliena wasnt a fan of ada's so he tried to mention her a little as possible. but she was an integral cog in the hess machine.

it made erich smile to see the excitement on marlena's face at the prospect of a friend.it could be a lonely existence for a child in this buisness. he didnt know if ada still performed. he imagined that she didnt. he hadnt seen her name posted at any of the venues he'd played at. in spite of a long career,atomic war bride still played dirty little clubs. the glass ceiling for psychobilly was remarkably low and thick. "her name is takara. she lives faaaaar away. you met her before when you were just a baby. " erich tells the little girl before she bounds off to her swings. takara also lived a rather lonely life. she had eris,but that was it. the other summers kids were far too old to want to play with her. "if they ever meet. ten dollars says takara will want pink hair too." erich laughs. he really liked the matching hair on ada and marlena. it was adorable.


erich nods along with the description of marlena's schooling. "that is how takara and the summers kids do it too. which is nice. better quality education and no grinding down of the creativity." erich says while keeping a watchful eye on marlena. it was odd. she didnt feel anymore his than when he sat down to speak to ada. but she was tiny and the world was big. so it was more a general sort of watching the child.