#i mean i wouldn't pick it over a kit kat

[imtrashraccoon]

Click or treat? 💨

You've been tricked??

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[magichcuse]

{¤} At a time like this, Vivian really wants to rewatch her hatching video. Seeing her parents cast their warm, loving gaze on her as they coo about how perfect she is...it's the one thing that makes her feel like she wasn't a complete burden. Her parents wanted her. Her parents loved her. She made her parents happy.

The tape was the happiest Vivian had seen Patrick since he married Kathleen...at least, before he started dating Theo. Still, the wagging of his tail and happy quacks immortalized in the video filled Vivian with a love she desperately craves, a love she's starting to doubt was ever there.

The tapes will prove her father's love for her. They have to.

Patrick doesn't keep the home videos of Vivian before the divorce in his house, wanting to rid himself of Kathleen entirely...which means Kathleen is going to have to sneak in the house to give her the tapes.

-

Kathleen successfully picks open the front door, not even needing to take out her lockpicking kit because Patrick's front door was that unsecured. She has no idea why Patrick wouldn't have invested the money in a better lock, but she shouldn't complain too much. Patrick's obliviousness allows her to keep visiting her daughter.

Unfortunately for Kathleen, Patrick happens to be home at the moment and he's there to witness her breaking into his house.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?"

"How many times do I have to tell you to buy a better lock?"

"I'll have you know it was rated the most secure lock in all of the Dueling District!"

"I'm highly skeptical of that claim when I was able to pick the lock with a bobby pin."

Vivian runs into the living room, stepping in between Patrick and Kathleen. She turns towards her mother, tail wagging as she bounces in place.

"Did you bring the tape, Mom?"

"You know I did!"

Kathleen pops the tape in the VHS player that Patrick still has for whatever reason, sitting on the couch with Vivian as she allows it to play.

--- ☆ ---

Viv: *hatches*

Kat: "What a gorgeous little angel!" *picks Vivian up*

That's odd...Vivian remembers her father being the one who picked her up after she hatched. Surely, Vivian must've misremembered that part and the rest will play out like nor—

Pat: "You've gotta be kidding me...did you just clone yourself, Kathleen?"

Kat: "Well, someone didn't want to get involved in the process of making his child! You barely gave enough of your DNA to give Vivian any of your traits!"

Pat: "Who the hell is Vivian?"

Kat: "That's what I've decided to name our daughter—Vivian Maddeline Eggleston."

Pat: "You didn't consult me on the name at all! Why did you have to go and name her some snobby, old lady name? She should have a cute name...like Sue-Ellen!"

Kat: "We're not naming our daughter 'Sue-Ellen'! I've already sent the paperwork to the District's registry, so it's set in stone. I thought you would have appreciated me giving her your mother's name as a middle name, but I guess not..."

Pat: "Couldn't you have at least talked about it with me beforehand?"

Kat: "I tried to, but you were busy trying to look up Theo!"

Pat: "Here we go again..."

Kat: "I get that you're still heartbroken or whatever, but you better make an effort to be present for your daughter. I don't want her to feel like she's being pushed aside in favor of a homophobe who saw you as a pest!"

Pat: "You don't know Theo like I know him...I'd prefer to be married to him over you!"

Kat: "If Theo busted in through the window and proposed to you right now, would you accept and abandon our daughter and I?"

Pat: "In a heartbeat!"

Kat: "Don't you love your daughter?"

Pat: "You mean your daughter? I never asked to have a child with you and you did everything yourself anyway!"

Kat: "You're ruining Vivian's hatching video, you ass!"

Pat: "You're the one who brought up Theo!"

Kat: "Because all you do is obsess over him! You can't get upset about having no input when I've tried to present the opportunity to you and you turn it down to fixate on a guy who doesn't love you back!"

Pat: "...why the fuck did you turn everything black and white, Kathleen?"

Kat: "I didn't do that!"

Pat: "What, so the newborn baby decided to spontaneously turn everything black and white?"

Kat: "There's a condition that runs in my family where everything loses saturation when they're sad. From what I can tell, one person in the family can have it at a time and my father had it..."

Pat: "So if your father lived just a couple months longer, we could have had a normal daughter that doesn't drain the color out of everything when she's upset?"

Kat: "Patrick!"

Pat: "This was a mistake...I shouldn't have let you—"

--- ☆ ---

Vivian stares at the paused screen in horror, lip quivering as warm tears run down her face. She takes out the purple contacts, revealing icy blue eyes she now knows are because her father didn't want any part in making her.

"Is...is this how things actually happened?"

Kathleen looks down at Vivian, her own eyes now glossy with unshed tears. She had a feeling Vivian would find out eventually...but why did it have to be now? Should Kathleen have even made the other tape if she knew that finding out it was fake would devastate Vivian so badly?

"I'm so sorry, sweetie..."

Patrick glares at Kathleen, his already flushed face now tomato red.

"Look what you've done, Kathleen! Was your petty attempt to make me look bad worth it?"

"It was an accident, I swear!"

"Now Vivian is going to hate you for this!"

"Mom isn't the one I'm upset with right now...it's you."

Patrick blinks in surprise, turning his attention toward Vivian.

"Me? Why are you upset with me?"

Vivian furrows her brows, standing up to properly address Patrick. She's shaking in place, not even bothering to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"You don't think it's upsetting to find out that your father never even wanted you? That he was more than willing to abandon you?"

Pouting, Patrick bends down to Vivian's height.

"Vivi, honeybear, I just said those things in the spur of the moment. You don't actually believe I feel this way about you...right?"

He opens his arms for a hug, but she takes a step back.

"...with how you've been acting lately, it wouldn't be surprising."

"I just want you to be happy instead of moping around in funeral clothes all the time!"

"If you want me to be happy, why don't you try listening to me for once? How about you spend more time with me and actually be a father to me? Do you even want to be my father?"

"Of course I do!"

"You didn't even want to help bring me into existence. Why should I believe you want anything to do with me?"

Vivian runs off to her room sobbing, turning everything in her path grayscale in the process. Kathleen is about to follow her, but Patrick stands in her way.

"Get the hell out of my house. Now."

With a pit in her stomach, Kathleen ejects the tape from the VHS player and leaves. Patrick sighs, staring ahead at the blank television screen.

Would it be in poor taste to ask to see Dedrick's home movies to lighten the mood? {¤}