Story: "Up the Water Spout" Part 5
Sep. 8th, 2014 12:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis story belongs to the series Love Is For Children which includes "Love Is for Children," "Hairpins," "Blended," "Am I Not," "Eggshells," "Dolls and Guys,""Saudades," "Querencia," "Turnabout Is Fair Play," "Touching Moments," "Splash," "Coming Around," "Birthday Girl," "No Winter Lasts Forever," "Hide and Seek," "Kernel Error," "Happy Hour," "Green Eggs and Hulk,""kintsukuroi," and "Little and Broken, but Still Good."
Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Natasha Romanova, Phil Coulson, Clint Barton, Betty Ross, Bucky Barnes.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: Mention of human trafficking and nonconsensual drug use. Slightly offstage sexual violence. Dubcon/Noncon.
Summary: Sometimes the Black Widow needs to hunt, and sometimes she needs help settling her personality afterwards. Uncle Phil arranges an extra ageplay session.
Notes: Hurt/comfort. Family. Fluff and angst. BAMF!Black Widow. Black Widow is creepy. Spiders. Coping skills. Asking for help and getting it. Hope. Nonsexual ageplay. Caregiving. Competence. Girl stuff. Toys and games. Gentleness. Trust. #coulsonlives
Begin with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. Skip to Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10.
"Up the Water Spout" Part 5
"All right, girls," Uncle Phil said with a brisk clap of his hands. "Let's get started."
"What are we playing first?" Betty asked, turning to Uncle Phil for guidance.
"We'll start with jump rope," he said. He went to an equipment locker and selected an assortment: a blue nylon rope swivel-mounted on wooden handles, a plastic one with tube beads in alternating colors, a leather boxer's jump rope, and a premium speed rope. He offered Natka the first. "Nylon is easy for beginners."
"I like the plastic kind because it makes this cool clicky sound when it smacks against the floor," Betty said as she made her selection. With a lazy twirl of the rope, she demonstrated the sound, stepping over the line. "Then if you go fast, the beads streak in the air." She sped up, skipping expertly over the plastic rope as its colored sections made stripes.
"So you just ... jump it?" Natka said, casting a dubious look at the rope in her hands. "I do not see the point in this."
Betty gave her an impish grin. "Oh, that's just the beginning." Her wrists flicked back and forth as she paced through several different steps. "You can do all kinds of things with a jump rope."
"You can jump forward, or backward," Phil said. He used the leather rope to demonstrate a more methodical progression. "You can also cross your arms, or side-swing. Many athletes jump rope as part of their training."
Natka tried the steps. She had no trouble with the forward and backward versions. Crossing took a few attempts to learn. She tripped trying the side-swing. "This is more complicated than it looks," she muttered.
"You'll get the hang of it," Betty said. "Now the fun part is the rhymes. You say the words in time to the jumps."
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn around,
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, touch the ground
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, show your shoe
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, that will do!
As Betty sang, she suited actions to words. Natka watched her, entranced.
"Give it a try," Phil prompted.
Natka obeyed, the simple tricks holding her attention just enough. Betty circled around them, skipping over her own rope as she moved in a wide ring. She taught Natka more rhymes. Slowly Natka got into the spirit of it.
"Would you like to try two-person twirling?" Phil asked.
"Okay," Natka said.
Phil got out the longer ropes. They had a pair of those, one with pink handles and one with blue, joined by the same pink-and-blue nylon ropes. That made it a little easier to do double-dutch with the contrasting handles, because you had to spin the ropes in opposite directions. "All right, first Betty and I will show you how to twirl the rope," he said to Natka. "You can help me twirl while Betty jumps, and then you'll get a turn jumping.
It only took a few spins for Natka to grasp the idea. She quickly took over Betty's handle. Pacing herself to Phil's speed was more challenging. Eventually she figured it out. "Now what?" she asked.
* * *
Notes:
Jump rope is a popular children's game with many rhymes. There are basic and more advanced steps in learning to jump rope. Double dutch uses two long ropes and is more complicated.
Know which kind of jump rope to buy. There are nylon, plastic beaded, leather, and premium speed ropes. This is the double dutch set.
[To be continued in Part 6 ...]
Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Natasha Romanova, Phil Coulson, Clint Barton, Betty Ross, Bucky Barnes.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: Mention of human trafficking and nonconsensual drug use. Slightly offstage sexual violence. Dubcon/Noncon.
Summary: Sometimes the Black Widow needs to hunt, and sometimes she needs help settling her personality afterwards. Uncle Phil arranges an extra ageplay session.
Notes: Hurt/comfort. Family. Fluff and angst. BAMF!Black Widow. Black Widow is creepy. Spiders. Coping skills. Asking for help and getting it. Hope. Nonsexual ageplay. Caregiving. Competence. Girl stuff. Toys and games. Gentleness. Trust. #coulsonlives
Begin with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. Skip to Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10.
"Up the Water Spout" Part 5
"All right, girls," Uncle Phil said with a brisk clap of his hands. "Let's get started."
"What are we playing first?" Betty asked, turning to Uncle Phil for guidance.
"We'll start with jump rope," he said. He went to an equipment locker and selected an assortment: a blue nylon rope swivel-mounted on wooden handles, a plastic one with tube beads in alternating colors, a leather boxer's jump rope, and a premium speed rope. He offered Natka the first. "Nylon is easy for beginners."
"I like the plastic kind because it makes this cool clicky sound when it smacks against the floor," Betty said as she made her selection. With a lazy twirl of the rope, she demonstrated the sound, stepping over the line. "Then if you go fast, the beads streak in the air." She sped up, skipping expertly over the plastic rope as its colored sections made stripes.
"So you just ... jump it?" Natka said, casting a dubious look at the rope in her hands. "I do not see the point in this."
Betty gave her an impish grin. "Oh, that's just the beginning." Her wrists flicked back and forth as she paced through several different steps. "You can do all kinds of things with a jump rope."
"You can jump forward, or backward," Phil said. He used the leather rope to demonstrate a more methodical progression. "You can also cross your arms, or side-swing. Many athletes jump rope as part of their training."
Natka tried the steps. She had no trouble with the forward and backward versions. Crossing took a few attempts to learn. She tripped trying the side-swing. "This is more complicated than it looks," she muttered.
"You'll get the hang of it," Betty said. "Now the fun part is the rhymes. You say the words in time to the jumps."
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn around,
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, touch the ground
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, show your shoe
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, that will do!
As Betty sang, she suited actions to words. Natka watched her, entranced.
"Give it a try," Phil prompted.
Natka obeyed, the simple tricks holding her attention just enough. Betty circled around them, skipping over her own rope as she moved in a wide ring. She taught Natka more rhymes. Slowly Natka got into the spirit of it.
"Would you like to try two-person twirling?" Phil asked.
"Okay," Natka said.
Phil got out the longer ropes. They had a pair of those, one with pink handles and one with blue, joined by the same pink-and-blue nylon ropes. That made it a little easier to do double-dutch with the contrasting handles, because you had to spin the ropes in opposite directions. "All right, first Betty and I will show you how to twirl the rope," he said to Natka. "You can help me twirl while Betty jumps, and then you'll get a turn jumping.
It only took a few spins for Natka to grasp the idea. She quickly took over Betty's handle. Pacing herself to Phil's speed was more challenging. Eventually she figured it out. "Now what?" she asked.
* * *
Notes:
Jump rope is a popular children's game with many rhymes. There are basic and more advanced steps in learning to jump rope. Double dutch uses two long ropes and is more complicated.
Know which kind of jump rope to buy. There are nylon, plastic beaded, leather, and premium speed ropes. This is the double dutch set.
[To be continued in Part 6 ...]
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Squee!
Date: 2014-09-08 05:49 am (UTC)I hope Natka and Betty get to do clapping games.
Re: Squee!
Date: 2014-09-08 06:02 am (UTC)I rather liked it too.
>> I could never figure out double dutch, but I could jump one rope twirled by two people, Chinese jump rope, and my cousin and I did this thing where she stood in front of me(she was shorter), and I twirled the rope as if I were jumping alone, but she jumped with me.
You need a long rope to do that. We didn't have a third, and nowhere to tie the rope. <<
I never managed double dutch either. I could jump alone, or with two twirlers if I didn't have to run in from the side.
>> That and hopscotch were the only physical games I was good at. Unless clapping games count.
I hope Natka and Betty get to do clapping games. <<
*grin* You're getting ahead of my posting again, but you'll love the rest of this story. Both hopscotch and clapping games are included.
Re: Squee!
Date: 2014-09-08 06:13 am (UTC)Yup, sounds about right. I always had to get them to stop twirling, and stand in the middle.
>> *grin* You're getting ahead of my posting again, but you'll love the rest of this story. Both hopscotch and clapping games are included. <<
Oops? *grin* I'm looking forward to it.
Re: Squee!
Date: 2014-09-08 06:14 am (UTC)Re: Squee!
Date: 2014-09-08 06:20 am (UTC)Lovely, lovely story.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-09-08 09:28 am (UTC)Edit: it looked much like this. http://youtu.be/wI46rsQR83k
Wow!
Date: 2014-09-14 09:11 am (UTC)Oh, Natka!
Date: 2014-09-08 12:45 pm (UTC)Yeah, I'm with her. HUGS because she needs them, and stored up because she's not ready for them yet!
The Red Room needs some karma Dreadnaughtus!
Re: Oh, Natka!
Date: 2014-09-11 06:35 am (UTC)Yeah, I'm with her. <<
Different things are fun for different people. She's still learning how to understand what she likes, let alone how or why.
>> HUGS because she needs them, and stored up because she's not ready for them yet! <<
Sooth. Hugs are good for her.
>> The Red Room needs some karma Dreadnaughtus! <<
So very true. *BOOM* *smaaaaaaash*
(no subject)
Date: 2014-09-08 01:28 pm (UTC)Mercy
Yay!
Date: 2014-09-09 10:03 am (UTC)That's cool.
>> When I was angry when I was little I used to grab the jumprope and jump as fast as I could until I was out of breath. <<
It works.
>> I like that Betty is the one to introduce Natka to these new concepts. I'm always all for more beneficial female relationship representation. <<
Sooth. They have a unique connection in the group because of that. Betty is the only Avenger who can give Natka a glimpse of something approximating a typical girlhood. And for Betty, it's a chance to revisit this without her asshole father ruining everything.
Double Dutch
Date: 2014-09-08 07:25 pm (UTC)Re: Double Dutch
Date: 2014-09-14 08:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-09-08 09:49 pm (UTC)I am not commenting because this story is bringing up stuff from my girlhood that I need to deal with, and I thank you for that, but I am not ready to comment about it.
*hugs*
Date: 2014-09-08 09:51 pm (UTC)Thoughts
Date: 2014-09-09 06:52 am (UTC)True. The things she learned were either part of a concerted training program, or things acquired for specific missions. So very little of it was built from the ground up, just stuck together as needed. She missed out on the basic experiences of childhood.
>> (Well, that's part of what this is all for.) <<
Yes, exactly. That's why Uncle Phil wants Natka to explore different things -- to sample the experiences that a little girl typically would have -- and then which ones she wants to repeat or develop further will be up to her.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-09-10 01:23 am (UTC)Yay!
Date: 2014-09-10 01:32 am (UTC)That's good to hear.
>> I also did lots of rhythm clapping and rhyming games as I am way more verbal then physical. <<
I wasn't good at coordinating with another person, but was good at the rhyming part. Like you, I'm far more verbal than physical.
>> I also remember lots of rhymes and warm ups in choir classes that were fun and helped with enunciation. <<
My friends did a few of those. I remember "cinnamon, aluminum, linoleum, petroleum."